Child of Heroes: Like Father, Like Daughter
by Cantoris
Summary: Meet Angela Kyle Wayne, daughter of Batman. While her life hasn't been average, it's about to get even more interesting when she travels to the past to meet her parents when they don't know who she is. Takes place just after Starcrossed. COMPLETE 11/8.
1. Comparative Childhoods

Hello again

So, I started this a few years ago and was never satisfied with it until some time this year. All recognizable characters belong to DC comics, but I do claim rights to the characters I have created.

I'm pulling the "busy college student" card as well as the "two jobs and a summer course" card to say that chapters will probably come out once a week. Fingers crossed. I'll do my best.

This is more of a prologue that provides most of the back story. The action will pick up in the next few chapters. Let me know what you think, thanks for reading.

Comparative Childhoods

Okay, so I didn't have the most interesting childhood in the history of the planet, but I came pretty damn close. I'd like to think that I'm on the top ten list; not like any one has ever kept track. Most of the aliens who grew up here have me beat, though I'm completely human so we shouldn't really be in the same playing field anyway. All of them are much older than me, too, so there's a time factor there that alters the comparison. As for my generation, I think I'm definitely near the top. Then again, when your mother is Catwoman, your father is Batman, and your step-mother is Wonder Woman, what more can you expect?

See, from what information there is—which isn't much by the way—my mom left my dad with little explanation when she found out she was pregnant with me. This was before he really started working with the Justice League, so Mom was pretty much out of the picture when Dad started dating Diana. But that's a little farther in the story. I can even understand Mom's reasons; she wanted me to be safe and as the daughter of Bruce Wayne _and_ Batman, safety is an impossible dream. So Mom went away and raised me as best she could.

So maybe the insanity started then, I'm not sure. I grew up with a single mom who adored me every minute of my life, but there was a degree of oddness even after Mom gave up her nightly activities. From what I can tell, she still met up with some old connections like Barbara Gordon occasionally and she worked as a waitress at a bar. I was the darling of the entire building and trust me, you get quite an education when you're three years old and learning the best way to get away from drunken men and how to pick locks.

Then came the thing that aged me beyond my years; driving home one night when I was five years old, we were hit dead on by a drunk driver. I survived in the back seat, Mom didn't. I woke up in the hospital and demanded to see my mother only to find out that she was gone. Mom's co-worker, an elderly lady who was like my grand-mother of sorts, took me in until Mom's will was read. I had no idea what was going on in the slightest. The only thing I knew was that life wouldn't ever be the same and I didn't even know what changes would come. The next thing I know, a man in a suit comes to me and tells me that my mom wanted me to go live with him. I learned that his name was Bruce Wayne and that he was my father. I wasn't really sure how I felt about fathers at that time in my life since I had never known one and didn't really see the need for one. Mom had given me all the love I needed or wanted and I knew even then that that would never disappear with her death.

But my opinion wasn't counted at all since the law was the law so off to stately Wayne Manor I went. Looking back on it, I can appreciate that my dad was panicking, bringing a little girl to live with him. I believe whole-heartedly that if it wasn't for Alfred, one of us would have gone mad and my money's on dear old Dad. Thank God for Alfred, or rather, thank Alfred since he pretty much was God in that house. He always knew the right thing to say or do no matter what. He was the only one who could get away with berating Dad for not remembering that I was only a little girl and he always knew when I needed to be hugged or left alone to pout and then cheered up with a cup of hot chocolate.

But between business functions and nightly activities, somehow, they would lose track of me on several occasions. So, naturally, I found the cave. With that revelation, I figured out the rest of the Bat Clan's identities. Dick, my adoptive brother, was Nightwing and Robin before that since he was the only one who had known my father long enough and was the right age. The rest were just as easy to put together, except Barbara Gordon. Then I overheard quite a few conversations that I shouldn't have where the name "Oracle" kept on coming up. Then it was easier. Dad finally caught me eavesdropping and asked me how much I knew. I was too young to know to lie a little bit, but it was worth it to see the look of shock on his face when he learned how much he had let slip. Technically, I was grounded for a month, but Dad caved after one and a half weeks.

Over the next few years, I learned more about the super-hero community than any one would have felt comfortable with had they been given a choice. I was thrilled. I also found out that my dad's current girlfriend, Diana Prince, was Wonder Woman which helped a few things fall into place. I learned how my dad's friend reporter, Clark Kent in Metropolis got such great information about Superman and the Justice League since he was Superman.

Life took more interesting turns when Dad realized that he and I needed more bonding time which was perhaps one of the few areas where he holds little skill. According to family legend, Dick angrily told him that he couldn't treat me like a side-kick and bond over punching bags and defense drills. I believe that the next day, Dad took me into the Cave and began to teach me how to fight like he did. I was ecstatic. When I was fifteen, if I was in the 'zone', I could land a few hits on him. He would always give me a hug afterwards, and then teach me different ways I could have done the move sooner, faster, or stronger for next time. It came in handy too. Mom was right to worry about me being Bruce Wayne's daughter since the temptation for ransom money was very pleasing to some people who thought that kidnapping me would be a walk in the park. I showed them the errors of their ways.

During this time, Clark and Lois had their first children. I knew them as well as anyone since along with Barbara and Dick they were often my baby-sitters when Dad had a function he needed Alfred for. I was no longer the only child from that group of heroes and no longer the youngest. They had twins, named Nathan and Lara when I was seven years old. However, I also started to long for some siblings of my own, typical of an only child. Lucky for me, Dad finally proposed to Diana and they were married with me as the flower girl. When I was nine, my wish came true when Penelope was born. For a split second, I was jealous of her since she was the daughter who looked like part of the family with dark hair and her mother's eyes while I was blond with _my_ mother's eyes which were green. Like I said, it was a split second before Dad let me hold her and told me that I would have to make sure that he didn't make all the mistakes on her that he did on me. I should have argued with him, and Diana would have, but she didn't know about the times Dad would accidentally swear in front of me until I could curse with the most hardened of criminals in Gotham at the ripe age of nine. Of course, neither of them really remembered my time spent in that bar before I was in pre-school.

It became clear within a few years that these children would have to be told a few things early on. It all started when a four year old Nate suddenly set his teddy bear on fire with his eyes. After that, Lara was found floating in her crib during one of her naps. Luckily, Clark and Lois were expecting something of the sort considering the twins' DNA. The Kryptonian genes seemed to split fairly evenly between the two, probably due to their human halves. On the other side of the equation, Penny inherited all of her mother's abilities save none. We also heard from another of Dad and Diana's associates named Wally West—the Flash—that his own kids were starting to demonstrate odd behavior. His son, Barry who was the same age as the twins, had taken to running around their house at a toddler's version of superspeed whenever it was bath-time. His year old daughter Donna (a year younger than Penny) could crawl on the floor faster than his normal wife, Linda, could run. In order to handle this problem, the parents decided to semi-quarantine their kids until they were old enough to control their powers. By the time they reached kindergarten age, all of them could hide their abilities with the help of their parents.

When Penny was three, Diana became pregnant again and this time had a son, something that shocked the entire super hero community. I was surprised myself; I didn't think that an Amazon princess could even have sons, but go figure. He was the spitting image of Dad and despite no developing powers, still kept me, Dad, and Diana busy. At the same time, two more Justice League members had their first child: Jon Stewart and Shayera Hol had a little boy named Michael who became the best friend of Tommy, my little brother. Wally and Linda had another boy named Jeffrey and then Shayera gave birth to a girl, Gabrielle. In nine short years, I went from being the single one of my generation to being the oldest of ten children, of whom at least eight showed promise of super powers.

Now, in the present time, I am seventeen years old with an eight year old sister and a five year old brother. Penny is starting to give me trouble in arm wrestling contests, but Tommy has not yet displayed any signs of super activity. The Kent twins each have their own sets of powers, clearly defined but not wholly developed, just like Barry and Donna West. According to Shayera, Michael's wings are due to start growing in within a few years and the youngest two of the group, Jeffrey and Gabrielle, are too young for anything odd. And then there's me; simple, human me with no powers whatsoever. Of course I can handle this. Right?


	2. The Calm Before the Storm

Hello again

Next chapter, as promised. Yes, I've switched to third person, try not to get too confused. Trust me, it works better for the bulk of the story to be written this way while the prologue part was so much easier to write in first person. Everything from here on in will be in third person.

Still mostly fluffy stuff, action will start next chapter and really pick up the chapter after that. This will still be in the "future" until about chapter five or six, I can't remember, but it will happen. For those that enjoy seeing all of the children of the Justice League, you've got a couple of chapters for that.

Thanks to those people who reviewed, I hope you continue to enjoy this and tell other people about it.

The Calm Before the Storm

"Angela! Hurry up!"

Angela Kyle Wayne looked up from her locker down the hallway to see an impatient black haired girl about eight years old glaring at her. Angela allowed a smile to come across her face as she turned back to her messenger bag and books.

"Patience, little sister. We'll get home eventually," she spoke patiently, still loading her homework.

"But Donna could already _be_ there and I haven't seen her for ages!" Penny Wayne protested.

Angela donned her navy blue jacket and slung her messenger bag over her shoulder.

"You just saw her for Gabrielle's first birthday a week and a half ago," Angela argued back and motioned for Penny to put on her own jacket. The younger girl did so while Angela continued, "And you're about to spend the entire evening, night, and probably morning with her so you really have very little to complain about."

Penny rolled her eyes and grabbed Angela's hand to drag her outside. Given the difference of the girls' ages, it would surprise most people that Penny was actually just as strong as Angela; a side effect of Amazon blood and training. Angela let the matter drop and instead wondered as to their manner of transportation home.

"Look out for anyone you recognize," Angela instructed as she gazed out at the parked cars. "With Alfred in England, our ride could be anyone."

"Is that… Tim!"

Before Angela even saw who her sister meant, Penny was speeding—though not as fast as a speeding bullet—off to the single parked motorcycle in the lot. Angela followed at a more reasonable pace and heard the comments of appreciation the other girls were saying.

"Oh my God he's hot."

"Is that someone's boyfriend?"

"Wish he was mine…"

Angela could have told them exactly who Tim Drake was, but she decided not to give herself the headache that would come after communication with her peers. Most of them were spoiled rich princesses that had excluded Angela since according to them, her mother was common. Angela avoided them as much as she could.

"Hey little Amazon," Tim called out and picked up the girl to spin her around. Penny squealed in delight, holding on tight to the young man.

"And hello to my angel as well."

Ignoring the pun on her name, Angela merely threatened, "Try that with me, and I'll have to hurt you."

"Not only do I believe you could, I know you would," Tim responded. He then looked sheepish as he glanced back at his bike and then to the girls. "I guess I forgot about the whole skirt-thing."

St. Elizabeth's School for Girls was like any other private girls' school. That meant that the students had to wear the same school uniform that had somehow endured throughout the ages. The younger girls, like Penny, wore white blouses and blue, green, and gray plaid jumpers. Angela wore nearly the same thing except that her uniform was a skirt and vest instead of a one piece jumper.

Angela shook her head in amusement. "I always wear shorts under my skirt and so does Penny. It won't be a problem.

Tim grinned and put Penny astride the motorcycle in front of him. Angela grabbed two helmets and secured one on her sister and the other on herself. Tim mounted the bike as Angela tied both messenger bags tightly and got on behind him.

"Welcome to Tim's Ride O' Fun, ladies. Your choices for speed are as follows: fast and beat the Flash to the finishing line fast. Your preference?"

"The second one, the second one!" Penny shrieked before Angela could answer.

"As my lady commands."

A heart stopping fifteen minutes later, they were pulling up the long driveway to stately Wayne Manor. Penny let out an inarticulate shriek and jumped off to burst into the front doors.

"I think you'll have to pick up the helmet later, Tim," Angela laughed as she dismounted and took off her own helmet.

"What's the big event tonight anyway?"

"Dad didn't tell you?"

"You know him, just asked me to pick you two up and hung up."

Angela didn't deny it. "Big time meeting up at the Watchtower. The parents decided to save money on babysitters and just use me so that they can all go except Dad and he's got a video feed from his Cave. Wanna stay and help?"

"I know my limits, angel," Tim laughed. "Nine super-powered children in one house? No thanks."

"Coward. And only five of them have showed signs of super powers."

Tim handed her the two bags and took the helmet off her hands.

"Just smart. Besides, I'm helping Dick out tonight."

Angela frowned. "With what? Babs didn't mention anything at my lessons yesterday."

"Don't you think that maybe your father doesn't want you to know the dark secrets of this city?"

"Then he should try harder to keep me from hacking the Cave computer."

Tim laughed out loud. "With you taking lessons from Babs? I don't really think that there's anything he can do from now on about that."

Angela allowed herself a small smile. "True."

"You're shaping up to be an Oracle-in-training."

Angela's smile faded as she muttered, "Not by choice."

Tim frowned. "What do you mean by that?"

Angela almost didn't answer. Then again, it was Tim, who was by far the easiest person in the Bat Clan to talk to. "Haven't you ever considered it odd that Dad would let me learn martial arts just so that I can fend off potential kidnappers? He never does anything for just one reason but I can guarantee you that the thought of me in a costume has never even occurred to him, so what's the point? I love Oracle, I love what she does for the super-hero community, but that's not the only thing I can do to help people."

"Have you ever talked to him about this?"

"Not really. You know how he is, ask a difficult question and he'll ignore it until you go away."

"Yeah, communication is not one of his winning personality traits."

"Tell me about it. You don't have to live with him."

Tim grinned widely and stretched out his arm to offer a hug. Angela took him up on it and closed her own arms around him. She sighed and pulled away.

"I suppose the munchkins have been alone long enough. I should go in."

"Good luck, angel."

Angela stepped away and watched Tim fly out of the driveway and towards Bludhaven. Once he was gone, she turned and walked through the massive front doors of Wayne Manor. The front hall was curiously empty which put Angela on guard. It was too quiet for a house full of nine children, no matter how big it was.

"GET HER!"

The teenaged girl was tackled from all sides by at least seven of the aforementioned nine. They all fell to the floor in a large heap with a sound like an avalanche. Angela felt hers and Penny's book bags dig into her spine while little elbows and knees dug into other far more vulnerable places.

"Okay, you had your fun," Angela tried to speak but found her voice muffled by all the bodies. But since one of them had advanced hearing, she kept on talking. "But if you don't get off now, I'll make spinach and broccoli for dinner and nothing else."

"Aww, Angela…" the dark haired Lara Kent protested.

"And you won't get the surprise dessert Alfred left for us."

All of them jumped off of her so fast, it was hard to believe that not all of them had super-speed. Angela stood and brushed off her skirt and jacket with exaggerated care and then surveyed the motley crew. Nathan Kent, Lara's twin brother, stood next to Barry West who had his father's bright red hair. The two were the same age, and naturally, best friends as well as partners in pranks. One of them had to have been the mastermind behind the 'ambush-Angela-at-the-door' scheme. Next to those two were Lara, Penny, and Barry's younger sister Donna. Aged ten, eight, and seven, the three girls were also naturally best friends though less destructive than the boys, but that didn't stop them from following their lead. Two little boys were still hanging close to Angela: her younger brother Tommy and Michael Stewart. Both boys were five years old and were the only ones to look slightly sheepish for dog piling her. It took a sterner heart that hers to continue to be angry with them. Speaking of dogs… the Wayne family gray Great Dane named Shadow sat panting next to his favorite person, Tommy.

"Children, what's going on?" Diana's voice called from another room. Rather than trust their answer, she, Clark Kent, Wally West, Jon and Shayera Stewart came out with the last two of Angela's charges for the night. Wally had his youngest two year old son, Jeffrey, on his shoulders and Jon held his year old daughter Gabrielle on one hip.

"They were just saying hello," Angela fibbed immediately.

All the adults looked skeptical, but since no one was bruised, didn't press the issue. Wally lowered Jeff to the floor and gave him a tiny push to the other children.

"Kids, why don't you go wait in the play room while we talk to Angela quick?" Diana half-asked, half-ordered.

Groaning and moaning, they all obeyed and scampered off rather than disobey the Amazon woman. Angela greeted her step-mother with a hug and offered to take Gaby off of Jon's hands.

"Leaving so soon?" she taunted the gathered adults. "You can always stick around for a few minutes and enjoy all the children at one time."

All but Diana had the grace to look apologetic in her direction.

"J'onn is waiting in the Javelin out back. We really should be going," Shayera answered. The winged woman bent over her daughter once more for a farewell kiss and led the others through the rest of the house, saying good-bye to the children as well.

"We told them no powers since you don't have any to use back on them," Clark informed her before following. Angela kept her annoyance at being underestimated well hidden.

"Let the fun begin…" she muttered to herself and entered the room where the children played.


	3. Hell Breaks Loose

Hello again

Um…whoops. In my haste to get a chapter out to you wonderful readers, I kind of skipped one. And this is not a chapter to miss since it contains a vital interaction between Angela and her dear father. So, my apologies to those who were confused and my admiration to those who kept up with what was happening with that huge gap.

So, here's the real installment, and I'll just keep that other chapter up since it's been read already.

Happy reading.

Hell breaks Loose

Four hours, five pizzas, and eight near-heart attacks later, Angela finally had all of them calm, eating fresh cupcakes (from Alfred) with frosting and sprinkles and watching a movie together. Gaby and Jeff were already asleep in cribs in Angela's room with a baby monitor. Nathan and Barry were on the floor in front of the TV, Lara, Penny, and Donna shared a large chair, and Tommy and Michael cuddled around Angela on the couch. All in all, Angela had managed to keep what little remained of her sanity through it all. After the movie finished, the younger two boys and Donna were asleep as well. Angela woke Donna and sent the girls to Penny's room, and recruited Nathan's help in carrying Michael while she carried Tommy to her brother's room. Nathan and Barry then shared the guest bedroom. With all of them asleep—or at the very least, quiet—Angela finally journeyed down to the Cave to talk with her father.

She entered her personal code into the key pad hidden in the grandfather clock one corridor down from the front hall. The Cave was dark and still, a nice relief from the bright chaos that she had experienced recently. The only sounds were her father's namesakes flying around and a keyboard being used.

Bruce Wayne sat at one of the side screens, doing some type of research. The largest screen in the middle displayed the main room of the Justice League Watchtower, but few members of the League were there and none were looking at the screen. Angela came up behind her father and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"Where is everybody?" she asked.

"Superman called a recess after Shayera and Green Arrow got in a rather large argument," he answered, craning his neck around to look her in the face.

"Do they get in any other kind of argument?" Angela joked. "It couldn't have been as bad as the one when she was pregnant with Michael, was it?"

"No, not quite. But Green Lantern was restraining her all the same."

He turned back to his work while Angela straightened and perched on a console.

"You don't have your mask on," she observed with some confusion. While it was true that the original seven members of the League knew all the other's identities, none of the rest did.

"Oracle set it up so that it's only a one way feed and I can type any comments I have on the computer up there."

"What's the big deal with this meeting anyway?" Angela demanded.

"Green Arrow suggested that since there are so many members now, that we should split into six different branches of the League instead of one."

Angela paused for a moment and considered her thoughts before answering. "The term, 'if it isn't broke, don't fix it,' springs to mind."

"You know Superman, we have to talk about it." The exasperation in his tone could only be detected if you knew what to listen for, and Angela knew exactly what to listen for.

"So who's guarding the world while nearly every single Justice Leaguer is in the stratosphere?"

"We warned the Teen Titans and the Justice Society what was going on."

"And Gotham City?" Angela asked, since she knew that her father wouldn't trust his city without a Bat disciple.

"Cassandra's taking care of it."

"Speaking of the Titans," Angela began, sensing that this was her best opening. "Don't you think it's time I started to, you know, help out?"

Dead silence followed her question. Not a good sign.

"What makes you say that?" her father asked neutrally. Also not a good sign.

"Well, it makes sense that since I can fight and strategize and everything that I should use my skills for more than practice. I could do something useful instead of just sit at home. Besides, Lian has been out in the field for the past year and I know that I could keep up with her."

"This isn't really the best time to discuss this," he responded without a further pause.

Angela almost let it go, before anger quickly grew inside of her.

"Why not?" she demanded, hopping down and propping her fists on her hips. "When will it be a good time? So far, you look like you haven't even considered the thought of me in a costume. I'm the same age as everyone else on the Titans. I have you and Diana and everybody else to teach me more. You of all people shouldn't discredit me because I have no powers. I'm older than Dick and Tim when they each became Robin. I'm around the same age as when Barbara and Cass became Batgirl. I have as much training as any of those except Cass. What more do you think I need?"

"That's not the type of life you should—"

"Dad! I was born of heroes, raised among heroes, trained with heroes! Now you act like I'm being unreasonable when I want to become one!"

Angela never got to hear his answer because at that moment, sirens and alarms went off, warning of impending danger. The screen that used to show the Watchtower switched to the security cameras placed all around the manor. At six different entry points were eight men at each in the process of breaking in. Despite the formidable defenses of the manor, they also looked like they were succeeding.

Both father and daughter swore under their breaths.

"They'll be inside in five minutes," Bruce estimated.

Without thinking another moment, Angela turned around and began walking to the Cave entrance.

"Where are you going?" he demanded harshly, walking over to her and grabbing her arm.

"The kids need to be in the safest part of the house which is here. I'm going to go get them while I still have a little time," she answered quite calmly.

"Batman? What's going on?" Wonder Woman's voice penetrated the alarms.

"The Manor is under attack, send—" he tried to respond before static filled the Cave.

Bruce looked back at Angela. "You stay here and try to get the signal back, I'll go get the kids."

"Dad, you haven't been able to move as well since that last fight with Black Mask a month ago. I'm quicker."

"But-"

"If you can't trust me to help the world, at least trust me to save those children."

"It isn't that I don't trust you."

After a moment that seemed like a lifetime, Bruce let go of her and gathered some equipment. First and foremost was an earpiece with a short distance radio frequency. The next was a basic utility belt that Angela fastened around her skirt.

"I'll stay in contact with you, I think they only cut us off from the outside world. These will give you some tricks to keep up your sleeves in case they catch up to you."

He also handed her a small remote. "Activate the security measures with this after you get to the children's wing of rooms. Come back here through the hidden passageways."

Angela nodded in understanding. Bruce then revealed how tense he was by pulling her into a tight embrace. She squeezed back tightly.

"If you get yourself hurt or killed, I will never forgive you."

"I love you, too, Daddy."

He let her go reluctantly and gave her a small push towards the stairs. Angela set off at a steady pace, armed with a security remote and Batman in her ear.


	4. From Bad to Worse

Hello again

First off, sorry that I didn't get this up last week. I was moving back home and trying to satisfy my mother about a multitude of things…you understand.

Author request: by the way, I'm sure that you've all figured out that Angela will become a hero eventually. I'm trying to hunt down an appropriate name for her and nothing seems to click. I would love your input. Thanks!

So, without further ado, here is the next chapter, with the promised start of the action!

Chapter Three: From Bad to Worse

Angela raced through the dark hallways with light steps, becoming undetectable. She made all the turns to get her up the stairs and to the children's wing of rooms. The lights were dead, but like her father, Angela did not fear the dark.

"Angela, a group of seven is headed your way from the left," Bruce commed.

A moment later, she heard their muffled voices and stumbling footsteps. She kept on going until they came around from the corner behind her. She was only half a corridor away.

"What's that?"

"I don't care, get it!"

The gathered men exploded into action, turning on a high powered spotlight that flooded the hallway. Angela jumped behind a statue in a small niche before they could see where she went.

"Where'd they go?"

"Spread out. And someone start opening that door at the end of the hall."

_No! Okay, Angela, time to prove your worth._

She searched the compartments of her belt until she found a handful of round pellets. She pulled them out with a smile and rolled them on the floor towards the approaching men and away from the children.

"Hey, are those marbles?"

With a faint hissing sound, the pellets emitted a large amount of smoke in the hallway, covering Angela's exit from the niche and her last sprint to the entrance to the wing. She pulled out the remote as she ran, punching in the appropriate code to open the door in front of her. Unfortunately, the men began to blindly shoot projectiles in her general direction. Angela saw one hit the wall next to her; they were tranquilizer darts, not bullets. She put on more speed and dove through the open door, pushing the emergency close button behind her. Angela rolled through her dive and flipped to her feet, breathing heavily from exertion and adrenaline.

"Angela, what happened?" she heard in her ear.

"Crisis averted for now. We'll be down soon," she answered.

"Angela?" a tiny voice whispered.

After the brightness of the spotlight, Angela re-adjusted her sight to the darkness. It was Lara, standing in Penny's doorway in her pajamas. "What's going on? I heard lots of noises."

Angela walked over to the girl and looked her straight in the eye.

"There are some very bad people who are trying to hurt us. But they can't get in here, and we're going to take some special hallways to get downstairs to the Cave, okay?"

Lara nodded slowly.

"Go wake up the others for me? And send someone to help me with Michael and Tommy and then meet in my room. Got it?"

"Got it."

Lara went back into the room and shook Penny and Donna awake while Angela did the same with Barry and Nathan. After sending them to Gabrielle and Jeffrey, Lara and Angela entered Tommy's room. Shadow lay on the floor in front of the bunk beds, growling softly but unwilling to leave his little master.

"Shh, boy, it's just me," Angela said.

Shadow whined and stood up, his fur raised on his neck, but he let the two girls past to the still sleeping boys. Angela reached down and picked Tommy up and held him up on her hip. Lara used her developing gift of flight to hover up to the upper bunk and take Michael in both arms. Shadow followed them out of the room and into Angela's where everyone else waited.

"Angela, what is it?" Penny asked.

"The manor is being attacked so we're all going to go down to the Cave to be safe until some other people can come and help us," Angela explained to them all. At first, Donna and Nathan looked to still be rubbing sleep from their eyes, but after Angela spoke, they were as awake as the other older children.

"Do our parents know?" Barry asked.

"Our transmission was cut off before we could tell them, but I know that they'll figure out that something is wrong."

"What if they don't?" Donna asked, starting to cry.

"Then my dad and I will protect everyone. I promise."

"Okay, what's the game plan?" Lara focused on the first hurdle.

"We have some secret passageways down to the Cave that the bad guys won't know about. We'll be perfectly safe. So, Lara, put on that baby carrier and take Gaby. Nathan, you pick up Michael and carry him. Barry, you're in charge of your brother and sister. Penny, you're helping me with Tommy. Everyone understand?"

Instead of wasting time answering her, the older children simply did as they were told. Lara donned the backpack like carrier and had Angela place the baby girl on her back. Michael had woken up enough that Nathan carried him piggyback. Barry took Jeffrey and held him in one arm and held Donna's hand with the other. Angela still held Tommy and gestured for Penny and the others to precede her out of the room and into the hallway. Shadow followed closely at Angela's heels.

"Dad, we're on our way down."

"I've lost some security cameras, so be careful."

"Copy that."

The group was only a few feet on their way when Lara suddenly stopped.

"I hear something... like ticking, almost."

Angela motioned the group farther down the hall while she handed Tommy over to Penny and took a few steps back towards the door to the rest of the manor. Two seconds later, she realized the only thing that would tick was not good news.

"Get down, now!"

The very walls shuddered and shook when the bomb went off to blast the door down. The force from the explosion drove her to her knees for a moment until she jumped back up and faced the smoking hole where twelve men stood ready to mob them. Angela held her arms out to keep the children behind her as the men slowly approached.

"Hey, kiddos," a familiar voice said. "Come out and play with Uncle Joker."

One man came out from behind the henchmen. He was white skinned with bright green hair, a wide, red smile, and an ugly purple suit.

_The Joker. It had to be the Joker. Alright then, on to plan B._

"What do you want?" Angela demanded.

"Just to have a little fun."

"I don't see what you could possibly gain from this," Angela bluffed, knowing all to well the advantages of capturing them.

"Really? And the fact that every little munchkin here has a superhero mommy or daddy? Especially since _your_ Daddy is Batman?"

Angela tried not to let this new revelation throw her off balance.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she lied defiantly.

"You don't, hmm?" The Joker's grin widened even more and he took a few steps closer.

Barry and Nathan used their super speed to dart in front of her.

"Get back, right now," Angela ordered and physically shoved them behind her again.

"You don't have any powers," Nathan objected.

"You don't have any training," she snapped.

"Aww, is the little Bat having some problems? Come on, let's play."

Angela turned back to the bigger problem at hand. "Sorry, it's past their bedtime. Now, if you'll excuse us?"

"If you're thinking of using those little secret hallways down to the Batcave, I've already got men there."

Now Angela did allow herself to really feel afraid. _Okay, him knowing that Dad is Batman is one thing, but he also knows about the passageways _and_ the Cave! We are in real deep trouble._

"Well, in that case..."

Angela whipped out four Batarangs and flung them around the gathered group of assailants. Each imbedded itself in the walls around them.

"You missed, Baby Bat."

"Guess again, dumbass."

The Batarangs exploded three seconds later, showering the invading party with debris and dust. With them distracted, Angela shoved the children into running. But instead of leading them downstairs, she opened a hidden panel and pushed them all inside.

"Shadow, guard," Angela ordered and shut the door before the protesting children could escape.

"Angela, what just happened?" Bruce demanded.

"Did you miss all of that?" she snapped while she raced down the hall to lure the henchmen away from the kids.

"No, I got it all. Where are the kids?"

"The safe room. You better get your butt up here and get them while I distract the goons."

Angela turned a quick corner and heard the men behind her stumble and curse.

"Wait, take a left right here," her father ordered.

Angela obeyed, but then stopped short.

"Dad, this is a dead end."

"There's only six behind you. Stand your ground."

Angela turned to face the oncoming men and took a deep breath. But, true to Murphy's law, one of them was the Joker.

_Damn. How typical._


	5. Nadir in the Cave

Sorry it's late, but my wireless connection was misbehaving.

Okay, this time, I'm sure that I have the right chapter. I read it through twice just to make sure. I'm a little worried that some people might hate me for how I ended this chapter…but have a little faith. Thanks for sticking with me and I would love to have some feedback for a hero name for Angela, if you wouldn't mind.

Nadir is a term used in musical composition, namely cantus firmus, that stands for the lowest moment in a line of music.

Happy reading!

**Nadir in the Cave**

"Alright, Baby Bat, just play nice and you won't get hurt too bad."

"Yeah right."

The Joker frowned. "Tell me where the other children are."

"No."

"Have it your way then. Get her."

The five men attacked together, but messily. _So they've been trained together, but not for long. Well, I can work with that._ Angela refrained from actually striking them after blocking since all five were over six feet tall and nearly twice her weight. Instead, she remained light on her feet, spinning and flipping, until they were crashing into one another. Soon, they were staggering and Angela felt like she had only had a little bit of ballet class. She thought that she would win until seven more men showed up. Angela moved faster and faster, determined to stay out of reach, but the fact remained that she was outnumbered and in too small an area to really have an advantage.

Angela still kept focused until the sound of a baby crying echoed in the hallway, even over the sounds of the fight. Both Angela and the men stopped moving and looked back towards the hidden room.

"Aha, there they are," Joker said with a smile. "You, come and get this wall open."

"No!" Angela screamed and darted past the men between her and the children, only to be caught by three of them. One grabbed her arms and twisted them behind her back. The other two took her legs off the ground and held her mid-air, struggling like mad. Angela kicked and twisted, but nothing worked.

"Put her down right now!" a clear, demanding voice called out.

Angela craned her neck around along with everyone else in the hallway to see Wonder Woman, Hawk Girl, and the Martian Manhunter standing in between the Joker and the safe room.

Chaos engulfed the corridor as the men sprang into action again. The two holding Angela's legs went to help their comrades which left just one keeping track of Angela. _One is easy to deal with._ She slammed down hard with her foot onto his and jabbed her elbow into his solar plexus. With a growl, he let one arm go, so she was able to step around to face him and use his new assault to grab her to flip him over her body. His head connected with the ground with a solid thud and he remained still. Angela hit a pressure point on his spine to make sure that he was unconscious.

In the time it took for her to deal with one man, the other three had dispatched of the remaining ones easily. The Joker was gone. Diana came over to her and pulled her into her arms.

"We got worried when we lost contact with you," she said. "What happened?"

"And where are the children exactly?" Shayera demanded.

Angela walked to the hidden chamber and punched the correct code on the remote to open the door. All of the children looked up, frightened, until they saw that it was only Angela and the others.

"Mama!" Michael cried and reached for his mother. Shayera took him into her arms and just closed her eyes in relief.

Penny and Tommy tackled Diana to the ground while Angela gave Lara and Nathan and Barry comforting rubs on their backs.

"Why did you lock us in?" Nathan demanded. "We could have helped you!"

"You don't have the skills just yet," Angela answered. "Besides, I needed you to protect the younger children more than I needed help."

"One of us could have helped you while the others guarded the younger children," Barry argued.

"Yeah, you didn't have to be alone," Lara added.

Angela looked at them seriously for a moment before she spoke again.

"You're right. But I'm right, too. So I'll make a promise with you: when you start training, we'll fight together. Got it?"

She put her hand out which the other three put their own hands on top of. After that, Angela turned back to Diana.

"Where is your father?" Diana asked.

"Damn, I forgot," Angela muttered and then turned her attention to the earpiece she still had. "Dad, are you there? Dad? Dad!"

All she heard was static.

"He's not there, maybe they jammed our frequency again, I don't know."

"All right, then you go with J'onn and Shayera and take the children back to the Watchtower," Diana told her.

"That doesn't make sense," Angela argued with a sense of deja vu. "Dad probably just needs some back up and he'll be fine. The Joker was after the kids to get to you guys. He knows your identities, or at least Dad's and yours. They need protection. I'll go help Dad and you guys should get the kids out of here."

"I don't like this."

"We don't really have any better options here," Angela said.

Diana seemed torn until Shayera interrupted. "She has a point. Either way, let's go now. I don't like that the Joker just suddenly disappeared."

"...fine," she finally agreed.

Diana took Jeff from Barry and her own son in her arms, making her way for the window. Shayera already had Gaby from Lara and Michael in her own arms. Penny ran and gave her sister a spine-cracking hug before scampering after her mother. Lara, Nathan, Barry, and Donna each said good-bye and good luck and went to catch up with J'onn who would carry the ones who couldn't fly out the window.

Angela watched them go for a moment before spinning around and racing for the Cave.

_Batcave:_

Bruce could remember times when he had felt overwhelmed. There weren't many, but a few. The situation he found himself in was rapidly racing to the top of that short list. Everything had been progressing well with Angela and the communication problem until he lost track of who was chasing her and got her cornered by the Joker. Then, the local radio frequency he was using was cut off and the remaining thugs swarmed into the Cave. Out of the nearly fifty that had arrived, fifteen had been sent after the children and the remaining thirty five (approximately) had come after him. For the first fifteen minutes, he hadn't been worried, until an additional thirty had arrived along with the Joker himself.

"Hey, Batsy! So nice to finally see your little Cave!"

"I don't remember sending you an invitation," he growled during the lull in the fighting.

"You know me, I love showing up unexpected."

So the fighting started again, and Bruce started to feel worried. If the Joker was in the Cave, what had happened to his daughter? This gnawing worry did not help him as he continued to knock men down only to have three more jump up to take him on.

"Get the hell away from my dad!"

Literally everyone stopped and turned towards the echoed shout. Swinging from a jump-cable was Angela. She came to a stop right near her father, knocking down a few lackeys as she landed. Angela flashed him a quick grin. Bruce merely frowned.

"I thought you were helping the children."

"I did. Now I'm helping you."

He wasn't given another opportunity to object since the rest of the thugs remembered that they were supposed to be attacking. Father and daughter fought side by side, taking down opponents and covering each others' backs. They were even faring well, considering the odds against them, until a massive explosion shook the floor and toppled both Bruce and Angela as well as several other men to the ground. Bruce, attempting to help his daughter, was unable to land correctly and felt his left knee twist underneath him and landed heavily on his side. As if smelling blood in the water, seven rushed him, eventually securing and restraining him. Angela fought for as long as she could by herself before five caught her and held her as still as they could.

"Finally!" the Joker shouted in exasperation. "There was only the two of them!"

"Shows what you know," Angela muttered. "We still kicked ass."

"But not enough Baby Bat." The clown turned to one of the thugs holding the teen girl. "Make sure she doesn't move, that should keep her daddy well behaved, too."

Angela watched him with intense eyes as he drew out a simple hand pistol and held it steady to her right temple. She tore her eyes away from him to look at her father whose face transformed from angry to pissed off.

The Joker laughed. "I've got you now! I've finally got you!"

"And what makes you think that this hostage situation will work out differently from all your other attempts?" Angela demanded.

"This time I know what needs to be changed. A little birdie told me I need to shorten my fun, but that doesn't mean I can't have any fun at all."

Neither Angela nor Bruce said anything to that.

"Bring her to me, but keep the gun on her."

Bruce tried to jump forward, but one of the seven still holding him jabbed a weighted baton into his stomach. He gasped in pain and fell back, glaring daggers at the Joker.

"Hurt her and I swear I will kill you," he gritted out.

"Oh, come on now, if you were capable of that kind of fun, you would have done it years ago. Bring her closer."

Angela found herself mere inches away from the sworn nemesis of her father and greatly admired her own resolve to refrain from crying. His eyes gazing on her were only pinpricks, no color at all, and glinting with a strange light. His wide enough normal grin was even larger than before in triumph. She even felt his breath surround her face, as if it might choke her if it could. The demented villain leaned in closer to whisper in her ear, "You will die here tonight in front of your father. He will watch helplessly as you die slowly and painfully at his very feet. And then I'll kill him, even more painfully and slowly."

Angela began breathing faster.

"And after that, I'll find your sister and brother, and I'll kill them just to make a whole set of it. No children of Batman are going to live to take revenge."

Her heart jumped to her throat at the same time her body jerked forward out of reflex, trying anything to stop this madman before he hurt any member of her family.

The Joker leaned back and shouted in laughter.

"Nuh-uh-uh. Very bad girl. You need to be punished. Where shall we start, hmm?"

Before she could respond, a flash of light filled the Cave and revealed a tall man in white robes in the midst of the hired thugs.

"You will start with what I told you to do when I contacted you a month ago by your time," the stranger said crisply. "Kill him now or risk his escape. Leave the girl to me."

Rather than feel relieved, something in his tone told Angela that she would be better off dead.

"But that is no fun at all! Can't I have just a little bit?" the Joker whined.

"If you want history to run its course, go ahead," the man said. "According to the information I learned, they both live this night and many after. You want to change that, don't you? That's why I approached you when I first traveled back here from the future."

"But what about--" the Joker tried to protest again.

"Take what pleasure you can in the fact that he will die knowing that he is failing his daughter and family and abandoning them to fates worse than death."

"Well, I suppose that will do all right."

Angela watched mutely as the clown took another pistol out of his pocket and aimed for her father._ Come on, Dad. You've got to think of some trick to use. This can't be happening..._

"I win, Batman."

It didn't happen in slow-motion like she thought it would. It was as if her mind blocked the middle portion out of her memory, leaving her with only a flash of the Joker jerking back from the recoil after a sharp exploding sound and the next flash of the man she had loved for twelve years, lying still on the floor. She hadn't even seen him fall. Loud, hyperventilating breathing filled the Cave for whole moments until Angela realized that it was her. It was enough to jolt her out of her shock and scream.

"NO! Dad, no!"

She sagged against her captors, at the moment grateful and resentful that they were holding her upright and in the same spot. She wanted to run, to kick, to hit, to do anything that would make that horrible event reverse itself and happen the way it was supposed to.


	6. Through the Portal

Hello again

Wow, it's amazing how almost everyone had the same reaction in my reviews. Thanks for the responses, they make me feel justified. As far as the new villain, he gets a better introduction in this chapter, but I did create him, so if you ever want to use or mention him, I want you to ask me first. Same with Angela and the other kids (basically, anyone you don't recognize).

By the way, once upon a time, when I first started this story, I started it halfway through this chapter. Good thing I went back and wrote more of the "future" stuff since everyone seemed to enjoy it.

With all that said, happy reading.

**Through the Portal**

Still breathing heavily, Angela turned to the stranger that had ordered her father's death. He was tall, light-haired, and easy enough on the eyes. He did not look like a partner of the Joker.

"Now give her over to me, and you can enjoy your victory," he said.

"What? But why do you get to kill her?" the Joker objected. "I wanted to! And I need her to get to the other brats."

"I told you that I could give you Batman on a platter; I did. Now, it's time for my fun."

Angela felt a numb feeling sweep her body, hearing the two villains discuss who would end her life. _This isn't happening, this can't be happening._

"Who are you?" her voice asked without any conscious thought.

The pale man smiled. "My name is Karkinoma. You may not know me yet, but I know you very well, Angela. We don't really get along well in the future, but, that's why I came back here to your time."

She heard him, but couldn't bring herself to believe him. She also became slightly distracted by a shadow in the darkness. The moment she recognized the figure making its way to her position, it attacked the gun-holding thug still behind her head.

J'onn J'onzz morphed into a large alien creature that took down ten men with one swipe. Angela broke free of her other captors and fought her way over to her savior. The Martian used a massive hand to scoop her up and held her protectively against his body. Angela clung to him without hesitation.

"Damn, time to escape," Karkinoma announced cheerfully. "That's the beauty of time travel."

The villain pulled out a small device from a pocket and pressed several buttons on it. Another burst of light flashed in the Cave, revealing a man-sized portal into blackness. Seeing this, J'onn swept several thugs away and crashing into Karkinoma. Angela experienced his morph once more into a humanoid figure, his arm held protectively around her. The Martian then propelled Angela and himself through the portal and into darkness.

_Unknown place and time:_

An alley way in Metropolis flashed in a brilliant light for a moment, ejecting two figures. J'onn landed on his feet while Angela stumbled and somersaulted into a standing position. For a moment, neither said anything. Angela sat on the ground and closed her eyes in an attempt to block out the flashback images in her mind.

"Where are we?" she asked, trying to distract herself.

"I believe the question is, when are we?" the Martian corrected. "Karkinoma did say he was going to time travel."

"Okay, but I still think that 'where' is as important."

"Will you be all right?"

Angela hesitated before answering. "I- I don't- I'm not sure."

"I'm sorry I couldn't get there in time."

"It wasn't your fault."

"It wasn't yours, either."

Angela stood up and walked to the entrance of the alley. It was still dark outside in the late night/early morning hours. The street also looked familiar.

"I could swear we were in Metropolis," Angela said.

"What makes you say that?"

"I don't know. Fly on up over the rooftops and I'll meet you up there."

J'onn floated quickly in the air while Angela started climbing a fire escape with the help of some of the belt gadgets still attached around her waist. Once they were at the right height, they confirmed Angela's suspicions; the Daily Planet's globe gleamed brightly only a half-mile away from their position.

"I'm going to go and try to figure out what year we are currently in. I'll be right back."

"Hurry."

The Martian flew into the night silently. Angela watched him for a moment before climbing back down. Once on the ground, she sat and tried not to think about what situation had led her to this.

_I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll collapse in hysterics or panic and we can't afford that right now. So, just file it away in your memory banks and lock it up for a long while._

J'onn returned during this and hesitantly approached her.

"Are you sure--?"

"Just don't mention it right now, or you'll have to knock me unconscious to stop me from hurting myself or someone else."

"As you wish. I found several newspapers that confirm that we are in the year 2005."

"Hmm, I'm technically four years old. I wonder if this is before or after the Thanagarian invasion."

"Five months after."

Angela took in several deep breaths. "What do you think we should do?"

"I think that we should contact the current Justice League and ask for their assistance."

"How big is the League right now?"

"It should still be myself, your father, Diana, Green Lantern, Superman, and the Flash. I don't believe that they have recruited any others at this moment."

"Okay then. Since we're in Metropolis, we should probably contact Clark first. He's also the more likely to trust us than the others. By the way, are we going to tell them who we are?"

"I think that we would risk the time-stream continuum too much. I will morph into someone else and they should not recognize you at all."

"What should I call you then?"

"I need to tell you something that may upset you. Can you listen to me?"

"Go ahead."

"I heard your father's thoughts just before he died." J'onn paused to make sure that she didn't break down.

Angela took a deep, calming breath, just as she had been taught from her early years. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes, but she angrily blinked them away and nodded at J'onn to continue.

"I contacted him to say that I was coming and saw his thoughts at that moment; he ordered me to guard you at all costs. So I will be Guardian."

Angela nodded more and cleared her throat. "So, um, what now?"

"We should find a place to rest before contacting Clark. It's still very early in the morning."

"There's a park about five blocks east of here. Out of the way and relatively safe."

"Very well. Let's go."

_Metropolis City Park:_

Not surprisingly, Angela found herself unable to sleep at all even with Guardian watching over her. Luckily, Guardian didn't comment on her wakefulness, nor did he attempt to insist that she sleep. They had found a secluded grove of trees to pass the hours it would take until the Daily Planet opened and they could find Clark Kent at his desk. So, Angela sat and waited. She saw the dawn lighten the sky and got up to stretch.

_Funny how habits stay with you no matter what. Let's see, if this was a normal day, I would be eating fruit with Alfred before going down to the Cave to train for an hour. Damnit, Dad, how could you leave me--_

Angela buried her thoughts and began her stretches before going through some basic stances and dance routines from her ballet lessons. Her limbs responded to her commands to bend and twist with grace and control as they always did. It remained silent in the grove for ten minutes until a twig snapped several feet away. Angela froze mid-movement and looked at the bushes that led to the path to the rest of the park. At first, nothing moved and the silence resumed. Guardian also remained vigilant.

"There you are. I was wondering where you got to."

Without a single rustle of the bushes, Karkinoma stepped out into the grove.

"It took a little bit of time, ironically enough. See, what happened is that you jumped through the time-portal without a set destination in mind, so you got a little off track. But, now that I have been able to find you, we can get to our original destination."

"You are assuming that I will let you take her without a fight," Guardian stated with controlled anger.

"Well, you are rather outnumbered."

At least the henchmen couldn't come out of the bushes without making sounds. It assured Angela that they were run-of-the-mill grunts. However, there were twenty of them and that did worry her slightly.

_Breathe, just breathe. Let what comes, come. That is all you can do._

"Numbers do not win a battle," Guardian replied.

Angela, come stand closer to me.

Angela moved swiftly across the grass that separated her from Guardian.

"Bring the girl to me."

Chaos exploded in the small grove as all twenty men attacked at once, immediately separating Angela from Guardian. For the second time in less than six hours, Angela found herself matched against several men larger and stronger than her. So, Angela utilized her ballet training again to spin and twist away from their assaults. Only this time, she actively fought back with attacks of her own. Considering the odds, she did well, but not so well that she remained unharmed. She felt something in her wrist snap when one man grabbed it and tried to pull her away with him. She also felt a large bruise forming on her face from a glancing blow from another man. For a brief moment, she was able to catch sight of Guardian fighting eight at once with another five unconscious on the ground. It seemed to be turning their way, until Karkinoma himself entered the fight.

He was a superb fighter in the same league as Savant or Brother Blood. He headed straight for Angela, waving off the other men to take on Guardian. It took only moments for Angela to let an attack get through her defenses and send her to the ground. She rolled with the fall and came up to her feet a yard away from where she had been standing.

"Interesting, I hadn't fully realized how skillful you are at this young age. I'm surprised that I underestimated you, it's rather silly of me," Karkinoma remarked dryly.

"How do you know me?" Angela demanded, watching him carefully.

"I told you, you meet me in your future. Caped heroes are getting annoying, so I came back to rectify the situation."

"All the planning, telling the Joker who Dad was, the invasion of the manor... you did all that to make crime easier in your time?"

"A slightly simplistic explanation, but yes."

"You damn sonuva--"

"Angela, drop!" Guardian shouted from across the clearing.

The girl crouched close to the ground as the body of one of the henchmen went flying through the air to collide with Karkinoma. Both fell in a tangled heap on the grass just as there was a streak of blue and red.

"I'm going to guess that the two who are being ganged up on are the innocent bystanders," Superman remarked as he made short work of the remaining brutes.

Karkinoma made one last attack at Angela which he turned into his escape into the rest of the park. Superman looked as if to follow him, but stopped at the sight of Angela sitting heavily on the ground. Guardian, who had morphed into a black-clad and masked humanoid, hovered over her protectively.

"What's wrong? What did he do?"

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"J--Guardian, just drop it, okay?"

Taking care to keep her left arm close to her body, Angela stood and turned toward the superhero.

"Thank you for helping."

Guardian didn't stop looking worried, but followed Angela's gaze.

"Who are you?" the Superman asked.

"My name is Guardian. I am a member of the Justice League from the future."

Superman's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Prove it."

"I grew up calling you Uncle Clark," Angela replied with exasperation. "I came to visit the Daily Planet often with my father and you would let me sneak a chocolate from Lois' stash in her bottom left hand drawer."

In retrospect, Angela would laugh at the dumbfounded expression on the Man of Steel's face. _Then again, I just proved that I know who he is out of costume, as well as proving that I know him fairly well out of costume._

"Only I know about that drawer and that's only because I can see through the wood."

"You always said to keep it a secret or she would make your life miserable."

Guardian covered a laugh as a cough.

"Okay, so you know me in the future. And apparently not that far into the future."

"Thirteen years," Guardian told him.

"So what are you doing here?"

"We were attacked and had to use a time portal to escape and ended up here. We need help to get back to our time so that we do not negatively affect this time."

"Can you call the rest of the League together?" Angela asked. "We can meet at the Watchtower."


	7. Living History

Hello again

Whoa, it wasn't until I had this chapter isolated that I saw how long it was. It would have been shorter, but I had to add in some description concerning Angela's observations on 2005 Justice League. But that only added a half page, so it was long to begin with.

All right, the plot thickens as Angela confronts the current day heroes and learns to cope with "Guardian's" treatment of her. You'll see what I mean. Meanwhile, it's not like Karkinoma has been snoozing…

Read and enjoy.

**Living History**

Angela remained still in her seat onboard the Javelin II and watched the atmosphere thin out and transition into the blackness of space. _My first time to the Watchtower, and it's not even the Watchtower I know._

The present day J'onn J'onzz had flown the Jav down to pick up Angela and Guardian since Angela had no other means to get to outer space. There had been a moment when J'onn and Guardian maintained a staring contest--no doubt an intense telepathic conversation--and then J'onn remarked that the group should get going. Other than an odd glance at Angela every once in awhile, J'onn made no comment about the two time travelers. Superman had returned to the Daily Planet to work until the meeting time later in the day.

After a moment, Guardian moved from his seat at the console next to J'onn to sit by Angela.

"We'll be docking in another ten minutes. After that, J'onn will show us to some rooms where we can stay while we're in this time."

"I take it he knows everything?" Angela asked.

"It would be difficult to keep it from him," Guardian replied. "He's grasped the situation quickly and will aid us as well as keep our secret."

Angela said nothing to that. Guardian sat looking at her for a moment more and then reached out to take her hand. Until that moment, Angela hadn't noticed the numbing pain in her left wrist. When Guardian touched it, the pain flared so that she hissed in breath.

"Why didn't you tell me you were injured?" he demanded, examining the joint carefully. "It feels dislocated."

"I didn't realize," Angela protested with another hiss of pain. "There should be supplies at the Watchtower. I'll take care of it when we get there."

Guardian looked like he was about to protest further, but he let the matter go. "Very well."

Ten minutes later, Angela found herself walking through a living museum. She had only ever seen the Watchtower through video feeds from her own hacking activities under the watchful eye of Oracle. Now, she was in the same halls that her father, step-mother, and aunts and uncles had been in years before. It caused Angela to shiver when she had first crossed the threshold.

J'onn, who had remained silent toward Angela the entire time, led her and Guardian to the medical center. Once there, Angela realized that it was set up similarly to Alfred's in the Cave. Keeping her left arm locked against her body, Angela moved confidently around the shelves and cots until she had gathered all that she needed.

"You can't bind your wrist yourself," Guardian commented as he took the bandages away from her. "And you certainly can't put it back in place on your own."

"So you say," Angela muttered rebelliously. With a sigh of resignation, Angela hopped up onto a cot and held out her arm. Guardian worked carefully to immobilize the joint and re-align it before Angela could tense up. With an audible pop, the wrist was back in place and Angela allowed herself only a small gasp as she watched Guardian wrap it securely. He was reaching for an arm sling when Angela protested.

"It's not that bad, honestly. If you could stop hovering, I'd like for us to work out what we are going to say—and what we are _not_ going to say—to the Justice League."

Guardian took an imperceptible step backward and nodded reluctantly. He turned to his past self, silent as far as Angela was aware. After five minutes of what Angela knew was telepathic communication, she was starting to feel a little left out.

"This would be easier for me if you let me in on the planning," she remarked somewhat caustically.

"I am sorry, Angela. J'onn was reminding me of how suspicious the League is likely to be at this time," Guardian explained.

"Because of Aunt Shayera, right?"

Apparently, J'onn didn't know as much as Guardian had implied that he knew since he flinched at the familiar title Angela had given the Thanagarian woman. Angela realized her slip and brought her good hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose.

"This is going to be harder than I thought…" Angela muttered. "See? This is why we have to get our stories straight."

"Hawkgirl comes back?" J'onn asked somewhat dazedly.

"No," Angela responded immediately. "Hawkgirl doesn't come back, Shayera does."

"Enough," Guardian admonished.

Angela stopped herself from rolling her eyes and got off the cot to walk over to the window looking out into space. She let her gaze become unfocused, staring off into nothing, and waited for J'onn and Guardian to finish another mental conversation. From the stunned expression on J'onn's face, reflected in the window for Angela to see, the current Martian Manhunter was getting more revelations than he bargained for. Eventually, J'onn left and Guardian came up behind Angela.

"You should get some rest," Guardian suggested. "We have several hours before the rest of them can meet."

"I'm not tired," Angela answered. "Can you get me to a computer? I'd like to see what else I shouldn't know."

"This way."

Angela hacked into the computer system with ease; Oracle would give her tests with old passwords. She read everything she could find, putting the stories she had heard as a child into context with the help of the files. She didn't know where Guardian had gone, only that time must have passed when he and J'onn came to fetch her.

Feeling suddenly subconscious, Angela straightened her skirt and blouse as best she could. _Who knew my school uniform would hold up so well with battles?_ With growing unease, Angela followed both Martians to the conference room where the League members waited. Guardian didn't really need telepathy to read her mood and placed a hand on her shoulder, holding her close. Angela only thought her gratitude to him, schooling her features to impassivity. With visible effort to breathe as calmly as she could, Angela walked through the door.

It wasn't until that moment that it hit Angela that she was not in her home time. She had only seen J'onn and Superman and both of them were near perfect matches for her most recent memories of seeing them. As a shapeshifter, Angela knew that J'onn could look like anything and was accustomed to seeing him in various shapes and forms. Superman, while not immortal, could certainly pull it off to the naked eye. In the park, the Kryptonian had looked almost identical to the Clark Kent she had seen when he was putting his children in her care. It was some of the other heroes who served to remind Angela that she wasn't in her home time.

The Justice League stood in a semi-circle like a panel of judges about to determine her future, which in a way, they were. Superman was the center anchor, the only one wearing a semi-welcoming expression on his face. It was most likely due to the fact that he had seen what Angela and Guardian were up against. He might not have seen a lot or even fully understood what he had seen, but every little bit helped.

Green Lantern was to Superman's left, trying to keep his suspicions off his face but failing. He was certainly the most obvious reminder that these heroes were over a decade younger than Angela's aunts and uncles. John Stewart was clean-shaven—he hadn't grown his beard yet—and he lacked many of the stress lines on his face that Angela was used to seeing. He also lacked the laughing spark in his eyes that she knew wouldn't come into sight until he and Shayera finally stopped dancing around each other; that wouldn't happen until Angela was eleven.

Next to Lantern was the Flash who was fidgeting and looking serious at the same time. It was difficult for Angela to read his features due to the mask, but she knew what she would find should she look underneath his mask. There would be a shock of bright red hair, without the faint streaks of gray that were just barely detectable in his light hair. Hopefully, he would have the laugh lines around his eyes and mouth that were so essential to Wally West's personality. Despite being a contemporary of Dick Grayson, even he had started to show signs of age in Angela's years, though never in muscle or speed.

Opposite Lantern was Diana, in full Amazon warrior mode. Diana was a carbon copy of Angela's step-mother. Even after renouncing the immortal life that came with being a chosen of the gods, Diana still had not aged in all of Angela's memories and still appeared to be a strong and vibrant woman. She was, as always, dark haired and clear eyed with a body that still made young men pause. As the wife of Bruce Wayne, Diana always made a cutting figure on his arm, one hand caught in her father's and a gentle smile on her face. Diana's face now did not attempt to hide her suspicion and distrust; Angela had only seen her step-mother in that mode when she was fighting or facing someone she didn't like. It hit Angela like a physical blow to have that unfriendly attention directed at her.

J'onn joined the circle next to Diana and glanced at the corner, indicating the last member of the League. Angela barely stopped herself from flinching as Batman stepped out of the shadows.

He's not your father, Guardian reminded her.

_Not yet_, Angela thought back at him.

The Dark Knight was the most difficult of them to read, even for one as practiced as Angela. Like with the Flash, it wasn't easy for Angela to compare the man she saw before her and the man she knew due to his cowl. The suit alone made Angela's heart clench painfully, the blatant visual of all her father represented and died for. With a mental wrench, Angela forcibly did not attempt to reconcile the two images of Batman as she had the others.

"I've informed the League of what you told me," Superman began. "But if there's anything else that we need to know, we'd like to hear it now."

Contrary to the Boy Scout façade, Superman apparently wasn't going to be as trusting as Angela had hoped. She truly had underestimated the blow to the League's faith Shayera had done.

"Who are you running from?" Lantern preferred the more direct approach to questioning. But Angela had already known that.

"His name is Karkinoma, he is a villain from the future," Guardian explained, sensing that Angela did not wish to speak unless absolutely necessary.

"You're from the future," Flash pointed out.

"He's from the future, even for the two of us," Guardian clarified.

"Why should we believe anything you say?" Diana demanded.

Luckily, J'onn stepped in. "I have seen both of their minds. I believe them."

"You've been fooled before," Lantern pointed out. "If they're from the future, they could have some way of blocking your telepathy."

"I have no special powers," Angela offered, with characteristic pride that she needed none. "And could you stop talking about us like we're not here?"

"All right. Here's a question for you," Lantern said. "I get why he's—" he pointed at Guardian "—involved in all of this, but what are you doing here? You're just a kid."

"Wrong place, wrong time," Angela answered shortly, uncomfortable explaining everything.

Tell them the whole story. They need to know what Karkinoma is capable of.

Somehow, both J'onn and Guardian were speaking to her at the same time privately. By the confusion on the others' faces, they could tell that there was a telepathic conversation was happening, but of course couldn't know what was being said.

"Just tell us what happened before you got here," Superman asked her as gently as possible.

Stiffly and clenching her good fist at her side, Angela took a deep breath. "It started when Wayne Manor was attacked."

There was a collective pause as everyone unconsciously looked to Batman except Angela and Guardian. The dark vigilante showed no visible sign of reaction except a slight tightening around his mouth that only Angela knew to look for.

Angela continued. "The Joker broke in with a small army, _knowing_ that Bruce Wayne was Batman, _knowing_ his children were there as well as children of other heroes."

"Whoa, children?" Flash asked.

"So why were you there?" Diana asked.

"Why else? I _am_ a daughter of a hero. I was babysitting the other children that night."

"The Joker," Batman prompted, his only contribution to the conversation so far.

"He knew everything because Karkinoma told him. I got the kids out and stayed behind to help my father, but…we were outnumbered." Angela nearly choked on the last words, taking a moment to compose her self. Guardian was in front of her in an instant, searching her eyes. Angela brushed off his protective attention and faced the League again.

"Why were all of you at Wayne manor?" Superman asked.

"It's the most secure place besides the Fortress and every member of the League was expected at a massive meeting." Angela ignored the look on Superman's face that she knew about the Fortress of Solitude. "My dad stayed behind from the League meeting and was using the video feed in the Cave while everyone else was up here while I watched the kids."

"So I wasn't there?" Batman asked, with a slight note of disbelief in his voice.

Knowing that he could tell if she lied, she responded, "Batman wasn't there."

"So, the Joker was after what? He normally doesn't target other heroes."

"First off, he's branched out in the future," Angela answered, which was true enough. "Second, your children were there which is reason enough."

"Batman has children?" Flash muttered under his breath. Every other hero in the room except Guardian and J'onn also looked stunned by this revelation. Angela knew that they would all fall over if they learned who he married, or that she was one of his children. Any other time and Angela would have laughed.

"The Joker was going to kill me and make my father watch, but Karkinoma arrived and interrupted. He said that the history he learned said that we would escape that night because the Joker waited too long. So, the Joker killed my father in front of me."

The last of Angela's fortitude dissolved enough to cut off her speech, but luckily not enough to cause her to break down. _Please, don't make me tell any more,_ she begged in her thoughts.

Guardian took up the narrative without hesitation. "I was part of the rescue team when we learned of the attack. While the others got the younger children to safety, I followed Angela to the Cave to help her and her father, but I was too late to save him. When Karkinoma made to escape through a time portal, I grabbed Angela and went through first."

"And he followed you here, I'm guessing," Lantern remarked.

"Yes. He found us this morning less than a few hours after we had arrived."

"That's when I found them," Superman added.

"So, what do we do?" Flash asked, impatient to get something done.

"Will he continue to come after you?" Lantern asked Guardian.

"He'll come after all of you," Angela answered instead. The adults looked at her in surprise. "He told me that the reason he even showed up in my time was because super heroes were getting in his way and he decided to fix that problem at the source."

"His primary objective may have been to retrieve us," Guardian added. "But he won't pass up the opportunity to take out the heroes of this time. You are all at least twenty years, if not more, younger and less experienced than the heroes he is accustomed to fighting."

"Could he come here to the Watchtower?" Superman asked.

"He knew about the Cave as well as the hidden passageways in Wayne manor," Guardian answered. "It's likely that along with all of our identities, he knows many more of our secrets."

Angela was going through a mental rundown of anyone who could be in danger. With sudden clarity, she and Guardian gasped at the same time.

_Karkinoma could go after me and Mom,_ Angela thought, knowing that her four year old self was in more danger at that time than any other time before.

"Superman and Flash should secure the safety of their wives," Guardian was saying out loud while telepathically telling his younger self to go protect the young Angela and Selina Kyle and to check on Alfred in Gotham.

Superman, Flash, and J'onn were literally just through the door when red lights started flashing around the Watchtower. Angela and Batman reached the computers at the same time, pulling up multiple view screens of the surrounding space around the tower. Angela was the one who found the right angle which showed the incoming spacecraft. When no one recognized the design of the ship, Angela felt the familiar feeling of déjà vu from nearly twelve hours earlier when she had been in the Cave.

"He's here," she said in the stunned silence.

I'm really fond of cliff-hangers, apparently…


	8. Alone

Hello again

Let me preface this chapter with the following: I am not the type who believes that killing characters will some how keep a plot "alive." That is how I came to lose interest in Star Wars extended universe and even our dear DC comics with One Year Later.

So, the whole point of that little insight is to indirectly promise you that I do not make my decisions lightly and that if you trust me, it will all work out in the end. A lot of you who reviewed for chapter five figured me out.

All right, with business out of the way, let's get on the whole reason you clicked on my story. On with the drama!

**Alone**

It took a moment of mental arguing before Guardian stopped trying to lock Angela in one of the rooms for her protection.

"You are really taking this 'Guardian' thing a little too far," she finally nearly shouted, causing the remaining League members to look at them strangely. Only Batman and Flash remained while the others patrolled around the tower. Not seconds after spotting the spacecraft, it had disappeared from sight and detection by their technology. So, Superman, Green Lantern, Diana, J'onn had donned space suits—for those who needed them—and began searching the old fashioned way. Batman had remained behind to monitor their progress and keep communication open and Flash stayed in case anything needed to be checked out inside the Watchtower.

"I am only doing as your father asked," Guardian responded quietly.

"He didn't ask you to encase me in bubble wrap and keep every single bad thing from happening to me. So just drop it."

After a moment of intense staring, Guardian took a step back. "As you wish."

Angela stalked away, intentionally going to the opposite side of the room from Batman, unable to be near him so soon after talking about her father.

Nearly fifteen minutes later, nothing had happened. The League members outside the tower had finally assumed stationary watch posts while Angela, Guardian, Batman and Flash remained together. Angela was about to go apologize to Guardian when the lights shorted out into darkness. She froze, waiting somewhat impatiently as she heard Batman type at the keyboards and panels until the emergency lights came up, illuminating the tower in a red haze.

"Is he inside?" Flash asked, zipping back and forth in the room.

"I can't detect him," Batman responded calmly.

"He has to be inside to have cut the power," Angela spoke up.

"If his technology is so much beyond our own, even ours, how can we know that he can't achieve this from outside?" Guardian pointed out.

"Look, either way, he had a reason for letting us see him and then going invisible…" Angela started to argue before coming to another realization. "He wants us split up! Get every body back here now!"

It was too late; communications had not come back on with the emergency power. This time, Angela didn't argue when Guardian came up next to her to protect her. She was about to make a suggestion when laughter filled the Watchtower comm systems. Shivers rushed down Angela's spine at the sound of the voice which had condemned her father.

"Pathetic," the laughter melded into speech. "Twenty years truly makes a difference. In my time, it took me almost a week to break into the Justice League Watchtower. This took only an hour."

Each of the four people in the room remained silent, waiting for the first move of their opponent or for one of them to come up with a plan.

"I would step away from that panel if I were you," Karkinoma's voice said.

Batman jerked away from the computers just in time for the panels to short circuit and to avoid the probable electrical burns. Distracted by that action, all four missed Karkinoma's entrance. His voice, not coming over the sound systems, alerted them to his presence.

"It also didn't take me long to hack into your systems."

All the doors around them that had been open, closed. Karkinoma lurked in the corner of the room, silently baiting the heroes to attack him. Predictably, it was Flash who made the first move. Angela only saw him as a blur of red that whipped around Karkinoma until, suddenly, he flew across the room. Angela saw in mute shock that he was knocked out. In Karkinoma's hand was a small device that still buzzed with sparks.

"A modification of the tazer," the villain explained nonchalantly. "No strings required, just near direct contact."

By then, Guardian had subtly moved Angela out of Karkinoma's line of sight while Batman moved just as slowly over to check on his fallen teammate. Angela only saw Guardian's head nod slightly, so she assumed that he had eavesdropped on Batman's thoughts and found that Flash was still alive and relatively unharmed.

"We could use some back up right about now," Angela muttered.

"They're working on it," Guardian muttered back.

_Distract him, and I'll try to crack his code,_ Angela thought directly at Guardian. Not even a full heartbeat later, Guardian had flown across the room to tackle Karkinoma head on; Batman wasn't far behind him. Once Karkinoma had his hands full, Angela dashed to the computer console and attacked the keyboards with growing confidence. The system was easy for her to enter and explore, but it was Karkinoma's new code that caused her difficulty. She worked through all of the processes that she knew from her time and even tried combining several partials in an attempt to break Karkinoma's hold over the Watchtower.

Noise from behind her grabbed her attention. She peered over her shoulder and saw Guardian slam up against a wall with an echoing thud. Batman moved to cover him, but was tossed back several feet. Angela realized that Guardian couldn't fight to his full abilities without revealing who he was. Angela's last thought was, _Hang the time line,_ before calling out, "Just morph!"

Karkinoma turned to her with a predatory grin on his face. Angela stared back, almost frozen in his gaze. He was only four feet away from her when a massive green hand wrapped around him, yanking him backwards. Guardian had become the same alien creature that he had used to save Angela in the Cave. Batman came up beside her, keeping her at the computer.

"Keep going, we'll keep him busy."

Nodding somewhat dumbly, Angela returned to her task. Almost immediately, she was distracted once more when there was a loud pounding on the door. She didn't have to think to hard to know that Superman was trying to break down the door to get in. She spared a passing thought wondering why J'onn hadn't just phased through the door. A second later, she found the added program that was emitting a static barrier around the conference room which would disrupt the Martian's intangibility. _So, just take it in small pieces_, she coached herself. With a smaller scope, Angela went after the individual programs that Karkinoma had updated.

Nearly a minute later, she finally had success. Letting out a cheer, Angela shouted, "J'onn, the barrier's down!"

She looked up just in time to see the blurred outline of J'onn's form come through the wall near where Karkinoma, Guardian, and Batman were still fighting. J'onn made to join the battle, but Karkinoma twisted at the right moment and also hit J'onn with the handheld tazer or something similar since the effect was different. J'onn didn't fly across the room, but instead convulsed in place and then crumbled to the floor.

Angela swore vividly and turned back to the computer. She knew that the Watchtower had been constructed to withstand several kinds of attack, but she was still surprised that Superman couldn't punch his way in, especially with Diana helping him. After more time spent navigating the Watchtower's programming, Angela isolated the series of commands Karkinoma had put in to keep the doors shut. With a grin, Angela read through the code and finally, was able to delete the sequence that gave Karkinoma control. With another cry of triumph, Angela turned and watched in satisfaction as the multiple doors around the room opened and full power resumed in the lighting. All the fighters stopped in unison to see Angela's success and then to recognize that Superman, Diana, and Green Lantern were all rushing in, barely assessing the situation. The impasse didn't last long and soon they were all at it again. Superman rushed to check on Flash and J'onn while Diana and Green Lantern moved to swap in for Batman and Guardian who were looking slightly worn. Angela turned to the computer once more and added her own commands to keep Karkinoma from trying that same trick again.

She was watching in morbid fascination as even Green Lantern's ring didn't have nearly the same effectiveness on Karkinoma as was expected when the villain broke away from the other combatants. He made a straight path for Angela who moved to meet him along the way instead of waiting for him to come to her. Angela ducked his first swing, but was caught with his leg sweep and landed flat on her back. Guardian was suddenly above her, taking on Karkinoma again. Angela got up to back up her protector, mindful of her injured wrist. The three of them moved too quickly for the others to join in.

Angela could have sworn that they actually had the upper hand when once more Karkinoma had a device in his hand. She almost thought that it was the same he had used before, but there was something different in the design. Karkinoma knocked Angela to the floor once more and took aim at her.

Perhaps Guardian didn't see that the device was different. Perhaps he was planning on taking whatever electrical charge the device would emit and then count on one of the other League members to take up the fight. Either way, he was still determined to keep his promise to Angela's father, even at the cost of his life.

A needle leapt from the device and struck Guardian's shoulder, just below his collarbone. There was no flash of electricity and no other physical reaction from Guardian except that he fell to the floor next to Angela. She moved to check on him as Superman, Green Lantern, and a recovered Flash fought Karkinoma. Batman and J'onn—also now recovered—joined Angela at Guardian's side.

"He's not moving," Angela said in worry. "Guardian, wake up."

J'onn knelt next to Angela and placed a hand on Guardian's brow. His eyes closed in concentration and time stilled until Guardian's eyes fluttered open. Any relief Angela had at seeing him come back to consciousness evaporated as Guardian lost his hold on his human-esque form and reverted back to a Martian body.

I'm sorry… Guardian spoke to Angela. I have let you down and your father.

"Guardian, what are you talking about?" Angela asked and then turned to J'onn. "What is he talking about?"

"He's dying," J'onn told her quietly.

You are stronger than you think. You'll make it home.

"J'onn…" Angela slipped and bypassed his cover name.

In a flash, Angela didn't see Guardian's body on the floor; she saw her father's, still and lifeless with a growing pool of blood underneath his body. Angela inhaled sharply, banishing the memory once more to the recesses of her consciousness. The person on the floor before her was not her father, but he was still a critical part of her life. Guardian, as J'onn, had been one of her main comforters in childhood. She knew that she reminded him of his lost children, but he had always been able to find joy in the memories she caused him.

A breath later and he was gone.

Angela looked up just in time to meet Karkinoma's eyes. He captured her gaze and smirked before escaping out the open doors and into the hallways. She watched mutely as Superman and Flash followed him. Diana had come over to see what was happening, watching Angela carefully. Angela couldn't bring herself to meet anyone's eyes. She merely sat next to Guardian's body, wishing that what she saw wasn't real.

While she sat, Superman and Flash had come back. Angela only barely heard their conversation.

_"He escaped. We can't track his ship."_

_"We need to reinforce the Watchtower's defenses."_

_"What do we do with the body?"_

_"He's Martian. I thought…"_

_"He's J'onn. J'onn from the future."_

_"What do we do now?"_

Angela bent over Guardian's body, clinging to the physical matter in the absence of the mental presence. She knew that the others were watching her, perhaps anticipating that she would break down and cry. But Angela was her father's daughter; she refused to cry. She leaned closer to Guardian and whispered, "Please. Please come back."

A hand came down on Angela's shoulder. She flinched and looked up into Diana's face. Gone was the hostility from earlier. Any doubts the Amazon warrior had about her before seemed to have dissipated into concern.

Looking around at the faces around, Angela was struck by how familiar and how different they were to her. With Guardian gone, Angela was now the only time traveler besides Karkinoma and she had no idea how to get home.

She was alone.


	9. Again and Again

Hello again

Thanks so much for not calling for my blood after the last chapter. You have all pretty much figured out that nothing's permanent any way.

Not a lot of action in these next few chapters. But, what will happen is that Angela gets to have some one-on-one time with each of her parents/parental figures. Here's the first one.

**Again and Again**

There was only a moment when Diana attempted to lead Angela away from the body that the girl showed signs of awareness. Other than that, to all appearances, she was locked within her mind. J'onn refused to try and bring her out of it, saying that she needed the time to herself. In a daze, Angela followed as Batman and J'onn took Guardian's body to the medical bay for lack of a more appropriate place.

"We need to know what killed him," Batman was saying to J'onn, Green Lantern, and Superman. Flash had taken the Jav back to Earth to double check on family members. Diana still watched Angela.

Batman went on. "The device in his hands had three different reactions when it was used. Not only that, but two lived and one died."

"There was something different," Angela offered quietly. All the heroes in the room turned and stared at her. "There was a needle that he was aiming at me, like a hypodermic needle. Maybe he meant to drug me but it had a different reaction to a Martian's physiology."

"I'll isolate whatever compound there is and run it through the database," Batman said.

"Meanwhile, let's get you out of here," Diana took Angela by the arm. She moved to protest again, but Diana went on. "There's nothing more you can do for him. But you need to take care of yourself."

Angela was still wavering when J'onn added, "We will keep you updated with our progress."

"Is there somewhere I can get cleaned up?" the girl asked timidly, showing her young age more than ever.

"I'll show her the guest quarters," Diana told her teammates, leading Angela out of the medical bay and down several hallways.

The two of them were silent until Diana brought them to a room that had only a bed and a door that led to a bathroom.

"I see no reason why you can't stay here until we find a way to return you home. I'll leave you to yourself now." The Amazon princess was about to leave the girl when Angela spoke again.

"What changed your mind?"

Diana looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Angela sat on the bed, still looking at Diana. "When you first saw me, I was a potential enemy; I saw it in your eyes. Now, you treat me as you would a sister Amazon."

"You know me in the future," Diana said with reasonable certainty.

"Yes," Angela confirmed. "All of the League members right now I know very well. My father—he, well, he wasn't thrilled at how much I learned about the League and other heroes, but he got over it. And you still haven't answered my question."

Diana gave the girl some credit. Everything she had interpreted was accurate and she was confident enough in her assessment.

"I know someone who wants to cause harm when I see one," Diana began. "Even if I wasn't sure of your nature, I can recognize that you are being targeted by this villain and that it isn't because you are a rival for him. I can also see that you are fighting against him. That's enough for me."

Later on, Angela would blame shock for the reason she didn't accept that answer and keep her mouth shut. "Shayera fought with you, too. She fought against evil people and you still wouldn't accept her once her origins were revealed."

Diana was back into warrior mode in a second. "What do you know about her?"

"Only that she taught me some of the most important lessons I've ever learned," Angela said fiercely.

"So she comes back."

Angela rolled her eyes and smacked herself on the forehead. "Damn, should _not_ have told you that. But yes, she comes back and you still don't let up on her for years just because she was caught between her duty to her people and her friendship with all of you. You once had to make a similar decision when you brought the League to Themyscira. So how are you two different?"

"I didn't betray the League," Diana argued.

"No, but technically you betrayed your customs by bringing men there," Angela argued back. "And that's what Shayera taught me: loyalty. I learned that loyalty is never as simple as you want it to be. She becomes such a wonderful person and hero, try to remember that when she returns."

Diana continued to scowl at the young girl and Angela realized that this wasn't the step-mother she knew. By the time Angela was ten, she knew she could approach Diana about anything, no matter how sensitive the subject was. But that Diana was still in 2018; this Diana had recently been betrayed and was still on the defensive line of reasoning.

"I'm sorry," Angela apologized. "I just—I'm a little confused with all of this. I forget that, you don't even know I exist right now."

Angela hunched over and rested her head in her hands. She jumped a little when she felt Diana sit down next to her on the bed.

"You are caught up in a situation that you have almost no control over, being hunted by a madman," Diana stated, her anger and frustration replaced with understanding and compassion. _There's a reason Aunt Dinah says that Diana is the scariest woman on Earth underneath the calm expression and the most motherly comforter all at the same time._ "I also feel confused because you know so much about us and we know next to nothing about you. I understand why that has to be, but it is unsettling."

"I'll try to be more careful," Angela said.

Diana hesitantly placed a hand on Angela's shoulder. When the girl didn't shrug her off, Diana put her entire arm around Angela, squeezing her gently. Angela had to fight to remember that it wasn't her step-mother, despite the fact the gesture was so familiar.

"I think I'll, um, get cleaned up now," Angela said reluctantly; she felt so safe where she was. Too safe. "Could I get something to wrap around my bandage and maybe some clean clothes?"

"I'll see what I can find."

Once Angela was alone, she managed to find a plastic garbage bag and some tape to keep the wrapping around her wrist dry. In the shower, she found generic shampoo and soap and towels. It was awkward to shower one-handed, but Angela was determined to wash away the sweat and grime, wishing she could wash away the stress and troubles at the same time. She came back into the main room wearing only a towel and found the clothes Diana promised laid out on the bed. The shirt was loose and the jeans long, but at least they were clean. She would have to make do with the slipper-like shoes she had put on when she had arrived home and had kept on throughout the entire ordeal. Angela managed to twist her damp hair in a knot one-handed and then searched out the League.

Green Lantern caught her in the hallway before she reached the medical bay.

"Superman, J'onn, and I are going to help Flash check up on the people in danger down on Earth," he explained to Angela. "Diana and Batman will remain up here in case that bastard comes back."

"Flash and Superman will check their wives, but make sure you remember to guard Alfred at Wayne manor and—" Angela paused in her instruction. Luckily she had because J'onn came up to both of them.

I will personally make sure your mother and past self are safe. No one else needs to know. J'onn told Angela silently.

"And…?" John Stewart asked Angela.

"And any one else that you know is close to one of the League," Angela covered quickly.

"I'll do that."

Lantern paused as if he still had something to say. Angela waited patiently, unable to predict what he still had on his mind.

"You fight pretty good," he finally got out.

Angela smirked slightly. "Thanks, Uncle John."

He looked surprised at the title she used to address him. Angela's smirk shifted to a frown.

"Sorry. I grew up calling almost everybody 'aunt' or 'uncle' and it just slipped out," Angela explained.

"Don't worry about it," Lantern assured her gruffly, patting her on the shoulder and then heading down the hallway. J'onn also patted her on the shoulder and followed him. Angela once again smacked herself on the forehead for screwing up. Again.

"I need a roll of duct tape," she muttered to herself. "Maybe then I won't keep saying stuff I shouldn't."

Angela continued down the hall until she reached the main console room. There she found both Batman and Diana at one of the computers. It could have been an instance from any time; Batman seated and working, Diana standing behind him. Angela cleared her throat, joining the two when they looked up and saw her.

"Anything?" she asked, peering at the computer screen.

"I've isolated the compound found in the bloodstream," Batman explained, indicating the readouts. "It's a toxin hidden within a virus that specifically targets a Martian's physiology."

"But then why would he try to use it on Angela?" Diana asked.

"Because he wanted to take out Guardian," Angela realized out loud. "If he had just aimed at him, he might have gone intangible to avoid it, but targeting me… Guardian wanted to block it." She was silent in thought for a moment. "It was my fault."

She walked away before either of the heroes could say anything else. She stopped only when she reached the reinforced windows that captured the spectacular view of Earth. The view was one she had dreamed of for several years, patched together from stories told by her father, step-mother, and various aunts and uncles. But the view was now completely lost on her as she stared blankly at the vastness of space.

Meanwhile, Batman and Diana exchanged significant glances, not needing any words to express their concern for the girl. Diana was just about to take a step toward Angela when an alert sounded on the computer. Angela looked up from where she stood, waiting anxiously for Batman to update them.

"It's a priority message from Superman," Batman said, patching the communication over the speakers.

"I just fought off an assassination attempt on Lois' life," the Man of Steel's voice almost sounded scared. "I've told Flash and J'onn to round up everybody on our list and bring them to the Fortress of Solitude until further notice."

"Is she all right?" Batman asked.

"They weren't prepared for me so she's fine except for being…irritated that her life is being disrupted."

The barest hint of a smirk crossed Batman's face; irritated was most likely underestimating Lois' reaction.

"Keep in contact with the others on the surface and double check that we've covered everyone. I'll coordinate things from here," Batman ordered.

Angela had frozen still upon hearing the report, eyes wide in shock. Then, with an almost physical shock, she flinched. _None of this would be happening if it weren't for me. If I had only just…_ The teen girl turned her back again to Batman and Diana, staring off into oblivion and retreating to the recesses of her mind. The Dark Knight looked over at the window, reading the tense lines in the muscles of the teen girl's back. She had still heard everything despite the distance. Diana followed his gaze, reading the same thing.

Before Diana could act on her observation, Batman caught her attention.

"It will take more than one person to keep on top of this as well as work on counter-measures against Karkinoma," he stated, with only a slight inflection of hesitation in his voice. Diana was learning to recognize these "tells" of his and was actually pleased with how well she was able predict his actions and analyze his reactions. She also realized that while he had spoken in a statement, there was a question in it.

"I will help with the communications while you focus on the defenses," she responded with one more glance at Angela. Much as she wanted to go over, Diana also knew her duties. Temporarily moving Angela to the back of her mind, the Amazon pulled up a seat and began organizing lists of who to watch for, who was being tracked, and who was confirmed in the Fortress of Solitude.

It was hours later that everyone the League could think of was checked off the "safe" list. Not all of them were at the Fortress of Solitude since not everyone among the civilians was as informed as League members. Luckily, Batman knew of several secure and anonymous safe houses that also had the advantage of being completely unconnected to any Leaguer. With those safeguards in hand, he switched off with Green Lantern to check on the welfare of Gotham himself.

Once John was manning the tower monitors, Diana was finally able to approach Angela, who had not moved an inch that Diana could tell in time since she had stalked over to the window in the first place. Diana walked over cautiously, ready to back off if the girl needed more time alone. Instead of any reaction Diana could have thought of, Angela didn't even acknowledge the Amazon's presence she was so inwardly focused. Diana sat down next to her and waited.

It took nearly twenty minutes for Angela to even turn her head slightly and realize that she had company. After that, Angela turned back to her vigil of the stars, utterly silent.

Diana braced herself and then spoke. "You need to rest; when was the last time you slept?"

While Angela didn't have dark bags under her eyes or slump her shoulders in exhaustion—quite the contrary, the girl's spine was completely straight—it was the tense way she was sitting that told Diana that she was on her last reserves or close to it.

Surprisingly, Angela answered. "My father and my godfather for lack of a better term were both killed in front of me. There's no way I can sleep."

"And if you are too tired to fight?" Diana challenged.

Angela sighed and conceded the point in her mind, but responded, "I can't sleep yet."

Diana let the argument go. She waited in silence, hoping for something, anything, from Angela. She could feel something under the surface and knew with absolute certainty that Angela was a hair's breadth from breakdown. She was ready to give it up when Angela turned away from the window.

"It's my fault."

"What is?"

Angela laughed harshly. "Where do I start? Guardian's death, the attack on the Watchtower, this entire trip to the past, my father… If I had only just _listened_ to people, it would have been better."

"It is not for mortals to know how our actions dictate the future," Diana counseled. "Nor is it for us to know how the present would be different had past actions been changed."

"Guess I'll find out if I ever get back to my time," Angela pointed out sardonically. "And Amazon wisdom aside, I do know that things would have been different."

"That still isn't a reason to carry the burden of guilt solely by yourself," Diana tried to convince her. "The guilt lies with Karkinoma."

"But if I had just listened my dad and you, I never would have been a target," Angela said, starting to get worked up. "Dad wanted to get the kids himself, but I argued with him and I went after them instead. We got trapped and Joker was so close to getting to the kids… and I couldn't do anything else; I was trapped. And then after you and Shayera and J'onn rescued us, I argued with _you_ and said that I could help Dad and you should go and get the kids to safety. Both of my parents tell me I'm not ready and I refuse to hear them out. And because I was such pitiful back up, Dad dies. And then because I still needed help, J'onn and I time travel just to escape. Karkinoma is still after us, so Guardian dies to protect me. No wonder my Dad doesn't want me to be a hero!"

Part of Diana's mind was thinking of what to say to the hurting girl, but another part caught onto the slip that Angela had revealed. She had said that both her father and the future Diana had argued with her, and had also said that both of her _parents_ had spoken with her. She put that to the side, determined to stop Angela from punishing herself any more.

"What do you mean?" Diana asked, genuinely confused about her last statement.

"Nothing. It doesn't matter any more." Angela had shut down again.

Diana refused to accept that.

"You can't keep punishing yourself for actions you had no control over. That is where a villain's power truly lies. They commit atrocities but in such ways to convince other people to feel guilty for those actions. And we, as heroes, cannot allow villains to convince us that what _they_ do is somehow _our_ fault. The blame lies with Karkinoma," Diana repeated.

"But—"

"No. Don't argue with this. You need to realize that what has happened is not because of your choices, but because of his actions. We _will_ defeat him and send you home because that is what we do."

Angela stared at Diana in total incomprehension for several breaths before falling into the woman's ready arms. Diana gathered Angela closer as she felt tears begin to soak her skin. Angela shook like a leaf and cried a steady stream of tears from her green eyes, but otherwise didn't make a sound. Diana was just relieved that the teen girl was finally allowing herself to grieve.


	10. The Eyes of Childhood

Hello again

If any of you want a laugh, go read each others' reviews. They make me smile so much my family worries about me. So, thanks for all the feed back, I really appreciate it.

All right, one heart to heart with a parent figure is done, two to go. If this chapter doesn't pull at your heartstrings, I don't know what will.

**The Eyes of Childhood**

J'onn found both Diana and Angela when he returned to the Watchtower. From a distance, it looked as if Angela was sleeping in Diana's arms, but a quick scan of the girl's mind showed that she was still awake. Still, he felt something lift off his heart, knowing that Angela had allowed herself some comfort.

At the sound of his footsteps, Diana looked over Angela and met the Martian's eyes. She clearly directed her line of thoughts in his direction, containing her recent conversation as well as her assumptions concerning Angela's parentage. J'onn neither confirmed nor denied her reasoning. With a look that promised details later, J'onn turned his attention to Angela. When he sat down next to her, she straightened, leaving Diana's arms, and began to blot the moisture from her face.

"I brought you news of your mother," J'onn said quietly.

Angela looked at Diana in alarm, thinking that her identity was about to be revealed.

"It does no harm for anyone else to know that your mother is in danger as long as only I am aware of her identity," J'onn assured the teen girl.

Angela nodded cautiously. "Is Mom okay?"

"I took her and your younger self to a safe place," he said out loud. Silently, he told her, They both are at the Clocktower with Barbara Gordon.

Angela sighed in relief. Diana furrowed her eyebrows slightly. Angela noticed and debated what to say, if anything.

"My mom and dad were never married," she explained. "I live with my mom in this time."

"And you are how old…?" Diana asked.

"Well, I'm seventeen, so in this year I should be four years old."

"And both are safe?" Diana asked J'onn.

The Martian nodded.

"I want to see them," Angela said.

Both J'onn and Diana looked at her in surprise.

"Please. I just…I need to see that they're safe."

The adult heroes shared a look for a long moment while Angela held her breath. Then, J'onn turned to her and motioned for her to follow him. Diana remained behind to uphold the image that she still didn't know who Angela was. J'onn took Angela to Earth's surface in the Javelin II and found an abandoned warehouse in Gotham to park it while he flew Angela to the Clocktower himself.

The Clocktower, conveniently located in downtown Gotham City, was on the list of locations that were "home" to Angela. First and foremost would always be the small apartment she had lived in with her mother, and close second was Wayne Manor. Themyscira gradually became familiar, as did the Kents' apartment in Metropolis. The Clocktower, though, was special because of Barbara Gordon.

Not only was she the one person who could still tell Angela about her mother, but she also provided so much more to Angela as a child and as she grew older. It was Barbara who had convinced Bruce that the traumatized girl wasn't ready for formal schooling yet and instead recommended a private tutor. Angela's teacher for three years was Helena Bertinelli, an associate of Barbara's, and was not only a wonderful teacher, but a strong mentor as well. When Angela had discovered her father's alternate activities, she had also picked up that Ms. Helena was the vigilante, Huntress, who stayed on to educate Angela's sister as well as the Kent twins and West children until the young ones could control their powers.

Barbara also gave Angela an outlet for all of those discoveries. As Angela had grown over the years, she still had no way to express her interest in superhero activities, which the observant Oracle had noticed. So, Barbara claimed Angela two afternoons a week and taught the girl to become a computer hack. It was the only way Angela could watch her family as they risked their lives and help keep them safe through research.

Diana may become Angela's step-mother, but Barbara would always be the most influential of the women in Angela's life.

The red-headed woman was waiting when J'onn and Angela entered through the front door. Angela stood before her, waiting for any kind of reaction. Barbara's face was unreadable as she wheeled herself closer to Angela. Instinctively, Angela knelt down to reach the other woman's eye level. Barbara reached out with one hand and hesitantly placed it on Angela's face, tracing her features.

"Angela…"

"Hi."

"Get over here."

For the second time, Angela found herself pulled into a strong, caring set of arms. She practically melted into the embrace, leaking a few tears. Barbara used one arm to keep her in place and the other to gently stroke her hair. After a moment, Angela pulled away, reluctantly.

"I figured you would recognize me," Angela remarked dryly, sitting back on her heels.

"How could I not?" Barbara countered. "You really do look like your mother."

"Yeah, that's probably why no one else has guessed who my father is," Angela agreed.

"I'm surprised your father isn't having flashbacks, looking at you."

"I wouldn't know," Angela shrugged. "I've done my best to avoid him since I got here."

"When J'onn brought you—your younger self, I mean—and your mom, I almost didn't believe it when he told me we had a time traveler on our hands," Barbara said. "And I couldn't believe that it was you. But here you are."

"Yeah. It's not like this was a planned trip," Angela answered somewhat bitterly.

"Honey, what happened? J'onn wouldn't tell me details."

Haltingly, Angela told the complete story for the first time, starting with her arrival at Wayne Manor. By the end of it, Barbara had reached out to her three times in an effort to comfort her. Each time, Angela had shrugged her off and continued. She told Barbara everything she and Guardian had told the Justice League and everything they had not.

"My God…" Barbara muttered. "This goes beyond anything we've ever faced before. Bad enough this bastard went to your time, let alone ours."

"Barbara, where's Mom?" Angela asked.

Barbara smiled. "She should be putting little you to bed right now."

Angela smiled back and crept down the hallway to the guest bedroom where she guessed she would find her mother and her past.

The door was half open, giving Angela a decent view of the room and its occupants. Angela saw a small, blond-headed girl in the bed, tucked in tightly and smiling at the woman in the room. All Angela could see of the woman was the back of her head, blond hair hanging loose down her back. Angela leaned against the door frame and waited for the words she had not heard in twelve years.

"Once upon a time, there was a princess who loved adventure. She had no family to care for, nothing to keep her tied down. The princess loved the night and the freedom she found in it. She climbed buildings, snuck into great fortresses, and took whatever treasures she found. One night, the princess met a dark prince, a knight who guarded his city from evil. He was so different from her, yet so similar. He carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, consumed with duty for the people of his city. He protected the innocent and fought for those who were unable. Yet, he, too, reveled in the darkness and raced across rooftops in the night.

"They fell in love, a night-time courtship that nearly consumed them. They would trade blows one moment, only to kiss the next. For years they danced and sparred in turn until one day, the princess discovered that she would have a baby. She knew at that moment, that her baby was in danger. There were evil demons who would hurt them to weaken the dark prince. So the princess did the only thing she could do to save them all: she said good-bye to the prince and left without looking back."

"And did she ever see the dark prince again, Mama?"

"No, kitten. She never saw him again."

It was the same fairy tale that Angela had heard every night that she could remember with her mother. The words were the same, every single night, until Angela was capable of reciting the story herself. After twelve years, she hadn't forgotten.

The girl in the bed drifted off into sleep. The woman stood and turned to walk out of the room. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Angela in the door way. Just like Barbara, Selina Kyle could recognize her daughter in the teen girl and likewise knew that she was the time traveler. Unlike Barbara, Selina did not reach out to her daughter hesitantly. Selina rushed across the remaining distance in the room and swept Angela into a tight hug. Angela squeezed back for all she was worth.

"I've missed you so much, Mom," she whispered.

Selina lessened her grip somewhat, gently leading Angela through the hallway and into the living room where Barbara and J'onn waited. Once both of them were secure on a couch together, Selina asked, "Now will one of you tell me what is going on?"

Barbara and J'onn helped Angela tell the story again, though Angela did her best to keep from implying that her mother died. Selina was quick enough to catch on despite Angela's efforts.

"So, if you're with your father, that must mean that I'm, well, dead," Selina said at the end.

"Mom—" Angela objected weakly. "I, I can't tell you."

"I understand, kitten," Selina told her. Angela felt a thrill go through her at being called "kitten" once more. "I may not be entirely happy with the fact that I leave you, but I do realize that you can't tell me without risk to your past."

"I'm sorry, Mom. I _want_ to save you; I want to tell you how and when I lose you so that the little girl in the bedroom doesn't go through what I did. But, Mom, there's some stuff that happens that is good, things that I don't want to take away from her."

"Like your father?" Selina asked.

Angela smiled a little. "Yeah. He's not, he wasn't, perfect. But, he was a really good dad."

Selina shared a look with Barbara. The red head only raised a single eyebrow. Selina sighed. "I suppose that his over-protective streak would actually take care of the dangers of being his daughter."

Angela smirked. "Trust me, any danger I've gotten into has been taken care of by him, or by myself because of what he's taught me."

J'onn allowed them to talk for another hour before submitting that Angela should get back to the Watchtower.

"That way, if he comes looking for me again, he won't find you as well," Angela agreed, speaking to her mother.

"When you defeat this son of a bitch, but you can't get to your own time, you know you can come back home with us," Selina told her in one last hug.

"I know, Mom." Angela leaned into the hug a little more. "I love you."

"I love you more than life, kitten."

Angela moved over to Barbara. "Thank you for everything you'll do for me."

"Anytime."

J'onn gently steered her away before the good byes took much longer. Angela waited until they were back on the Jav before speaking.

"Thanks. For letting us talk and say good bye and all."

J'onn looked sideways at her where she sat in the copilot's seat.

"I knew that it was something that would benefit you. And, I know that my future self would have done so."

Angela watched him carefully. "I'm sorry he died because of me."

"He cared for you very much; it was easy to find in his thoughts. All that he, and now I, ever wanted to do is protect you."

"Sometimes, I think I don't deserve any of you. Mom, Barbara, you, Dad—"

"You are an easy person to love," J'onn cut her off. He waited a beat and then added, "But if you don't get some sleep when we come back, I will sedate you."

Angela stared in shock, straining to determine if he was exaggerating since she knew he wasn't kidding.

"Compromise: I'll get something to eat and at least try to lie down and you don't come near me with any sleep medication," she bargained.

After a moment, the Martian nodded. "That is all I can expect. If you don't keep up your end of the bargain, I will tell Diana, Barbara, and your mother that you haven't slept in, how long now?"

Angela frowned in thought, trying to work through the answer. "Well, the day this started, I was awake early and went through the whole day and into the night, so that's… nineteen hours. After the time jump, Guardian and I were in Metropolis around four this morning and I've made it to now which is another, eighteen hours for a grand total of thirty seven hours without sleep."

J'onn shook his head. "You are so much like you're father, it's scary."

"Why do you say that?"

"He would be acting in just this same way."

"Well, I am my father's daughter. Now, just so long as I can keep anyone else from figuring that out, and I just might make it out of this whole thing without messing up the time steam continuum."


	11. Daddy's Girl

This story has now become my leading story for reviews and it's thanks to all of you! Writing this and your responses have truly kept me going this summer and I wish you all could know just how much it means to me. I hope that as we come to a close, you feel the same sense of satisfaction that I feel.

Alrighty then. This is the last of the touching one-on-one stuff and the action picks up again in the next chapter. I deliberately saved this exchange for the last of the three and I hope that you agree that it's worth it. I still tried to keep him in "Batman" mode and it's for a reason.

Enjoy!

**Daddy's Girl**

Batman's next shift at the Watchtower was the day after the time travelers had arrived. His patrols of Gotham had yielded nothing out of the ordinary, though he had informed all of his associates to be on guard until further notice. Even at his office at Wayne Enterprises, Bruce didn't loose the feeling of watchfulness should Karkinoma decide to attack heroes in their civilian lives.

When he arrived at the tower, he found only Green Lantern.

"Superman and Flash are working on security on their houses and the houses of the people we have in lock-down so that they can get back to their normal lives," John summarized. "J'onn and Diana are flying patrols in case Karkinoma attacks."

"And where is Angela?" Batman asked shortly.

John shrugged. "She's somewhere around here. I don't know about you, but I think she still hasn't slept."

How John knew that Batman had raised a single eyebrow, he couldn't say, but somehow he knew that Batman had changed expression underneath his mask.

"Don't look at me. So far, no one has been able to get her to rest, though Diana told me before she left that at least the girl's eaten something."

"I'll find her," Batman said.

After checking the guest bedroom she was using—or not using—and the conference room, he remembered her skills with computers and began checking all the computer terminals in the Watchtower. After three tries, he found her slumped in her chair in front of a computer in the corner of the main control room. In case she might react poorly to someone sneaking up on her, Batman actually made a conscious effort to make sounds as he walked. Angela didn't stir.

Since she had arrived, Batman had been trying to decipher this time traveling teenaged girl who knew more about the Justice League than any other person ought to know. Even as the daughter of a League member, Batman couldn't come to terms with the thought that she even knew that her father was a superhero, let alone the identities of other heroes, such as himself and Superman.

From what he had seen, she was adaptable to circumstances, collected during a crisis, and a decent enough fighter. Her ability with computers was equal to any of Batman's partners and she was remarkably mature for her apparent age.

He also knew that she was much like himself. He realized quickly that she held herself to blame for the situation they all found themselves in and that she was suppressing her emotions in order to maintain a functional level of activity. There was an almost dead quality to her tone of voice when she spoke of what had happened which signified that she was cutting herself off from the emotions. She focused on taking down Karkinoma to avoid dealing with the guilt and the pain of watching loved ones die in her presence.

Batman understood Angela far too well.

Batman gathered the young girl into his arms carefully and held her close to his body, one arm underneath her shoulders and the other underneath her legs. Angela fidgeted a little, though did not wake. Batman held still as one of her hands sleepily reached up until it reached the Bat-emblem on his chest. Still asleep, her fingers traced the upraised symbol and then fell down once more. Then, Angela shifted and leaned in closer to him, as if even asleep she felt reassured and safe.

Batman walked down the hallways of the Watchtower, having flashbacks of nights of Dick as a young boy who would stay up late to train in the Cave. Batman would come in from patrols to find the boy passed out on the mats. The Dark Knight would do just as he was doing now: scoop up the child and put to bed.

The door to Angela's room opened with a slight kick of his foot so that he would not have to put the girl down. With the light of the hallway as his only illumination, Batman carefully lay Angela down on the standard bed in the far corner of the room. He slipped her shoes off and grabbed a blanket, tucking her in with practice few would believe he had. When he was done, he found that he didn't want to leave her alone. After a moment, he knew that he had to get back to his duties and hesitantly lay a hand on Angela's head.

Once again, her hand reached up and traced the symbol. As she lowered her arm, she rolled over to one side. Batman reached down and adjusted the blanket, then left. He was almost out of the room when he heard her speak.

"Good night, Dad."

Perhaps another person wouldn't have heard her words; he had nearly missed them and he was always listening carefully to his surroundings. Batman looked back, for some reason expecting her to say something else or wake up, but continued on his way out the door when it appeared that she was deeply asleep.

She probably didn't realize who she had been talking to. That was the only logical explanation Batman could come up with.

_ooo_

_He lay on the ground, eyes wide open in death. Dazedly, she walked the distance between them and stared at the body, the shell that had been her father. Laughter sounded throughout the cavernous space, bouncing off the walls of the Cave and she turned around, searching for the source._

_She found Karkinoma, standing over several bodies while two small figures were standing on each side of him. Still moving as if walking through molasses, Angela approached the white-robed villain and stopped a meter away from him. She studied the bodies on at his feet first: J'onn and Diana, as well as Barbara and Alfred. Then she looked to the standing figures and recognized Penny and Tommy, each looking at her in disbelief._

_"I wanted you to see them die," Karkinoma informed her casually._

_Neither child moved, just as Angela found herself paralyzed._

_Blissfully, her vision blacked out just as Karkinoma's hand twisted around her sister's neck. That didn't stop her from hearing the wet snap of Penny's death or the strangled and choked off cry of Tommy's similar end._

_Still, Angela could not move. _

_She flinched when she felt Karkinoma walk around behind her and place his hands on her shoulders. She opened her eyes, staring straight forward without looking down at the new bodies._

_"You think I'm done," Karkinoma whispered in her ear. "You think you have no one else you can loose. I'd like to prove otherwise."_

_He turned her body and her head and gaze followed. In a corner of the Cave stood Lian Harper, Angela's best friend since as long as she could remember. Beside Lian was Chelsea Turner, a friend of both Lian and Angela's. Another corner revealed Clark, Nathan, and Lara Kent, trapped in a greenish haze that Angela instinctively knew to be kryptonite while Lois stared on. The Wests were chained to the ground; John Stewart held both Michael and Gabrielle, in mute shock of seeing Shayera pinned to a wall by metal spikes in her wings._

_"I've only just begun…"_

_Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Helena Bertinelli, Cassandra Cain, Roy Harper, Dinah Lance…she saw them all in some form of shock or peril._

_She had stopped breathing long before. She dimly wondered if she could even remember how to breathe. Somehow, she knew that Karkinoma wouldn't let her off that easily._

Angela sat bold upright, gasping for air and crying out wordlessly. Her last cries echoed in the room as she gulped air into starved lungs. Her hands came up to her face, not surprised to feel the violent fever that had always accompanied her nightmares.

_Just a nightmare, it was just a nightmare_, she coached herself. _But not all of it_, she was forced to admit even to herself.

Looking around the room confirmed that the terrifying images from her nightmare were not all fabrications of her mind; namely the first image of her father. The other images could all too easily come true.

She checked the room again, and tried to remember how she had gotten there since her last memories were of checking the safe houses via computer. Her day had been spent filling time and fooling J'onn into thinking that she was resting. She had managed to choke down some food and then practice ballet and martial art forms for several hours before claiming a computer. Shaking her head slightly, Angela stood, folding the blanket as neatly as she could with shaking hands. Her next stop was the bathroom where she splashed cold water on her face and rinsed out her mouth.

The bed now unnerved her, so Angela padded out of the room, not bothering putting on her shoes. She had the plan of going back to the computer terminal and mindlessly watching over everyone's safety. In the main observation room, Angela found Batman. She checked the time and realized that she must have slept for seven hours and that the Dark Knight was probably responsible for her relocation to her room.

Even seeing him from the back was painful, so Angela moved to walk back out. However, she hadn't counted on him catching her.

"How did you sleep?" he asked without turning around.

Angela stopped from smacking herself on the forehead; of course he would detect her presence. She also couldn't help but feel touched that he took the time to look after her. She knew the stories as well as any one else that Batman did not waste time on trivial social niceties.

Biting the bullet, Angela continued into the room and approached the Dark Knight at work, forcibly reminding herself this was _not_ the man she knew and could hug around the shoulders.

"Decently enough," she answered shortly.

"Not from the looks of it," he responded with only the barest of glances over at her.

Angela catalogued in her mind all the signs she had for nightmares: blotched face, dilated pupils, uneven breathing, and a slight tremor in her hands. Of course he noticed.

"I got some sleep, apparently, but ended with a nightmare to top all nightmares," she amended.

Batman actually stopped his work and turned his chair to face her. Once again, Angela felt touched.

"Any other person would tell you that nightmares pass in time," he began. "But in my experience—"

"They don't ever truly leave us," Angela interrupted. "I know, you told me that when I was six years old and for the next couple of years."

Angela was an expert at reading Batman's face under the cowl. He was somewhat surprised.

"I wasn't aware that I knew you when you were that young," was his only response.

Treading carefully, Angela answered, "I meet almost all of the current League members by the time I'm eight in some way or another. I met you earlier. I think you can guess why."

"Nightmares."

Angela just nodded in agreement for lack of any other response.

"I'm assuming that you put me in bed," Angela stated.

"You needed sleep."

Angela fidgeted for a moment, wondering how to bring up her next concern. "Did I, um, say anything in my sleep?"

"I believe that you mistook me for your father," Batman said levelly.

Angela swore, ignoring the slight surprise on Batman's face. "I hope I didn't say anything that gave me away?"

"No. Just good night."

Eager to change the subject before she gave herself away, Angela skimmed over the contents of the computer screen. Mostly it was profiles of known superheroes, specifically, the ones without powers. Angela mentally smirked.

"So, trying to figure out who my father is?" she asked lightly.

"We were thinking of expanding the roster of the Justice League," Batman replied, turning back to his work.

"Oh, I don't doubt that. I know you guys branch out around this time, but that doesn't explain why you're only looking at men who don't have any superpowers, and who are light-haired."

Luckily, Batman didn't try to deny anything else. Angela peered over his shoulder, noting the file that was currently at the head of his list of potentials. Angela laughed out loud.

Oliver Queen, a.k.a. the Green Arrow.

Batman patiently waited for her to catch her breath before speaking. "What is so amusing?"

"Just—of all people for you suspect to be my dad, you have to suspect Ollie. That is…truly funny."

"Is that a 'no?'"

"I won't confirm if you do have the right answer, but in this case, I have to correct you. I may have Ollie as one of my 'uncles' but that's mostly due to my friendship with Lian Harper more than anything else and even then… Ollie as a true father figure scares me."

"That was part of my considerations," Batman admitted.

"Besides the obvious lack of powers and blond hair, why did you suspect Ollie?"

"When you first arrived, you were dressed in a school uniform that suggests some wealth in your life and your fighting style is reminiscent of Black Canary among others."

Angela thought for a moment before nodding. "Okay, that makes a little bit more sense."

There was a moment of silence that bordered on uncomfortable. Then again, those moments had filled much of Angela's childhood.

"Knowing who my dad is isn't going to gain you anything but trouble," she finally confided. "It will just confuse you a great deal and I know you hate unanswered questions, but these answers aren't going to help anything. At this point in my life, no one besides my mom actually knows that I exist and if others found out, my future could be changed before my very eyes. So please, stop looking."

Angela hadn't really expected any kind of response from Batman. She knew that at this point in _his_ life, he took nothing on faith and wouldn't listen to any one save Alfred and even then, only when the aging butler said something that went along the same lines as what he wanted. She was shocked when Batman closed the files on the computer and turned to her.

"Thank you," she whispered, still stunned.

"In that case, I want to work on your defense for when Karkinoma attacks again."

Batman strode out of the room—most likely headed for one of the work out rooms in the tower—without looking back to see if Angela followed. She paused for the barest of breaths before giving into the inevitable. And if in her mind it felt like old times, well, only Angela would know that she was pretending that she had her father back.


	12. White Flag

Hello again

Okay, back to action!

**White Flag**

Angela felt the remaining air in her lungs explode out of her mouth as her body hit the mat on the floor. She rolled before the black-booted foot could connect with her body and lurched to her feet once more. Angela faked an attack, only to roll past her opponent to grab the escrima sticks on the floor behind him. They had been knocked from her grip not a breath or so earlier and she knew that she needed their advantage. Her hands closed around the weapons just a black-gloved hand closed around her ankle. With a twist, Angela was now flipped on her back and at the apparent mercy of her assailant. Angela let her body continue the rotation and kicked out with her other foot. Not that it did any damage, but the movement did succeed in breaking her free. Angela flipped to her feet and made a run for it. She kept her speed until she literally smacked into the door of the practice room. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the dark figure relax his guard completely; only then did Angela slid to the floor in a slump.

For the past several hours, Angela had been facing off against Batman in drills and simulations, each designed to sharpen her instincts and her physicality. There was a bit of a trade off that Angela would laugh at once she recovered her breath. This Batman—though skilled and certainly younger—was not as practiced as Angela's father. However, this Batman didn't hold back against Angela any more than he would with any of his protégés. Overall, Angela was just glad that she had begged for extra training from Barbara and Dinah in her time. It was the only thing saving her from more bruises—but not completely.

"How much did your father work with you?" Batman asked, gazing at her with his trademark intensity.

"About an hour every morning from when I was seven," Angela answered, getting to her feet to stretch out sore muscles and assess any lasting damage. "Mostly defensive stuff to keep me in one piece and one place until help could arrive. He never wanted me to be a hero." That last came out bitter despite her intentions.

"Most likely he didn't want you running into danger," was all the Dark Knight would say.

Angela shrugged. "Any way… when I was thirteen I convinced some other associates of his that I needed more techniques and some of them agreed."

It was all Angela could do to keep her secrets straight. Add that complexity to her growing temptation to tell this Batman _everything_ and Angela was grateful for being too tired to agonize too much.

Angela jerked her head up when Batman spoke again. She had been lost in her thoughts.

"We'll continue later."

She nodded slowly and watched him walk off, presumably to perform a cursory sweep of the Watchtower's systems. Now free from his watchful eyes, Angela allowed some quiet tears to track down her face. _This_ was how her father should have trained her from the start. Oh, maybe not right away for a young girl like when they had begun, but certainly after the first attempted kidnapping, the training should have intensified and never had. _Maybe if he had made me train harder, I would have been good enough to make a difference and then I wouldn't _be _in this mess. Damn it, Dad, why didn't you think I was worthy to help protect other people?_

While she was feeling grimy from the work out, Angela went through some ballet dance sets to clear her mind. Ballet lessons had been with her since she could remember. Her mother had scraped her small amount of earnings in order to give her daughter something to occupy her time. Her father had switched her academies, but encouraged her to keep her lessons a priority in her life. _Then again, I could have become a recluse at the age of six since Helena taught me at the Manor by myself and I only had Lian as a friend. Ballet at least kept me in social skills._ Lucky thing, too. Coming into a school at the age of eight had been difficult enough for Angela without the added problems of her father's fame and money and being ahead of her year-mates.

Completely focused on her thoughts, Angela lost all track of time. It was with a shock that she came to the end of all the patterns she could remember and looked at the clock. She had been at it for another two hours. Angela found her way back to her guest quarters and found a welcome surprise on her bed. Someone had cleaned her school uniform. Angela smiled just thinking about wearing clothing she knew fit her properly instead of whatever was left in the Tower from Diana and Shayera.

Showering quickly, Angela dried off and slipped into her shorts, skirt, blouse, and stockings. That night so long ago had only allowed her time to shuck off her jacket and vest before she was chasing after children. With a new sense of purpose, Angela also stopped by the infirmary to re-wrap her wrist which was slightly swollen still from the initial injury and the irritation of her physical exertions. The only concession Batman had made for her was her wrist. He may have never struck it directly, but made gestures that still proved to her what he could have done and what Karkinoma would most likely do.

Feeling more like her old self than she had recently, Angela searched out Batman and found him in front of the computers. She was just in time for an incoming transmission.

"…so she wants to go back to work and I don't think I stop her," Superman was saying.

Angela hid a smile at the thought of the world's strongest being unable to stop his "normal" wife. _Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound…and completely incapable of saying "no" to Lois._

"And the others?" Batman asked.

"I think I can convince the others to stay underground for their safety, but you know Lois."

Angela saw that Batman was also hiding a smile, or probably a smirk.

"I'm also running out of excuses for Perry. She's also going stir-crazy. I just would feel a lot better if we knew was Karkinoma was up to. He's been too quiet for the last few days."

"I think it's time we took some calculated risks," Angela found herself saying. "I know that we checked out the Daily Planet for safety measures along with everyone else's work places and homes. It's as safe as we can make it."

"I'd still feel better if there was someone there besides me in case Karkinoma decides to make an entrance," the Man of Steel asserted.

"Bruce Wayne could make a surprise visit," Batman suggested. "He's due to check up on the Planet anyway."

The relief was obvious to anyone in Superman's voice. "I'd love to be able to look back on this and say we were overly prepared."

"Understood. Try to hold her off until nine and Wayne will make an appearance at ten."

Angela turned to Batman and looked him in the eye. "I want to come with you."

"That's not necessary—"

"Lois isn't the only one getting cabin fever," Angela argued.

"That's still not a reason to put yourself in harm's way," he argued back.

"Does this ever sound familiar…" she muttered under her breath. She knew that he had heard her, but he chose not to respond to that. "Look, me playing bait is not so far fetched," she tried to keep her voice calm. "This could finally lure out that bastard and we can stop him for good."

Angela waited impatiently for Batman's answer.

_ooo_

The next morning, Angela tried to keep from smirking as she followed Bruce Wayne into the main lobby of the Daily Planet building. If anything, her presence made the billionaire's surprise visit even more plausible: she was an aspiring journalist student with a Wayne Enterprises scholarship being shown around by her benefactor.

"And you are smiling because…" Bruce muttered out of the corner of his vapid-smiling mouth.

"I'd bet my college funds that eighty percent of the staff will think that I'm your new, very young, love interest and this is just a whim to seal the deal," she replied in the same manner.

"And the remaining twenty percent?"

"They think that this is my prize after the deal is over."

The distracted facial expression never faltered, but Angela swore that she saw Bruce's amusement in his eyes. Angela shrugged slightly and made her way to the elevator. It was most likely Bruce's presence that secured them an elevator to themselves.

"You seem to know your way around," the billionaire commented.

"Didn't I say that the League was basically aunts and uncles to me? I'd visit Clark with my dad at least four times a year or so since I was six."

"I can't imagine what would entertain you here as a child."

"You obviously don't know about Lois' chocolate stash."

Within fifteen minutes, both of them were on the bull pen floor, Angela playing the part of curious and eager teen and Bruce playing the part of interested, but still scatter-brained, sponsor.

Luckily, through chance or interference, Clark and Lois had been assigned by their superiors to show them around. Lois' eyes were shrewd as she shamelessly studied Angela. Angela returned her pointed speculation with causal grace.

Twenty five pertinent questions later and Angela was beginning to regret her decision. Lois hadn't been told Angela's full story and she wanted to know _everything_. There also had been no sign of Karkinoma.

_What more do I need to get this guy to come to us? A neon sign over my head saying "Here I am! Come and get it!"?_

Later, she would hit herself for jinxing the situation.

The first sign that something was wrong was the faint sound of screaming coming from the lower floors. Bruce, Clark, and Angela tensed and looked around sharply, searching for the disturbance.

Somehow, Perry White's voice was able to carry over the din of the bull pen. "Everyone! We need to evacuate the building, we've just received a bomb threat. Please proceed down the stairwells calmly and outside of the perimeter being established by the police."

Angela followed Bruce through the crowd as Clark grabbed Lois and came up behind her. With a gut feeling, Angela began scanning the people around her to see if he was there. She wasn't disappointed.

As her eyes locked on his dispassionate gaze, Angela reached blindly for Bruce's arm, hitting it a few times before grabbing hold. He stopped in his tracks with her, causing Clark and Lois to bump into the both of them from behind.

"Bruce, what--?"

"We have company."

Clark followed Bruce and Angela's gaze and found Karkinoma, dressed in a white suit, leaning against the wall in a corner with a small smile on his face. He acknowledged their notice with an ironic salute and waited. At least three quarters of the civilians had gone and the rest were soon on their way; no one caught onto the exchange happening.

"Would someone tell me what's going on?" Lois demanded.

Ignoring the question, Bruce—who had dropped his playboy façade—ordered tersely, "Get her out and call the others."

Clark kept a firm hold on his wife and moved to grab Angela as well to drag both of them out of danger.

"Leaving the party so soon?" Karkinoma drawled. By then, everyone save Bruce, Angela, Clark, and Lois had abandoned the floor. "It doesn't matter if you try to escape, I have fifty men in the building that can take out at least one of you before you take a step outside the stairwell."

"Then why are you letting the other people get out of the building?" Angela asked.

"Because as long as I have you, my dear, in my sights, the rest are just filler."

Karkinoma made his way across the floor, weaving his way through desks as if he had memorized the layout years earlier. Four sets of eyes watched him sharply until he came to a stop two meters away from them. Subconsciously, Clark, Bruce, and Angela spaced out slightly, slipping into a battle ready formation with Lois protected by Clark.

"Angela, I want you to get yourself and Lois out of here and call for the team," Bruce said calmly.

For once, Angela didn't feel the urge to argue. She began to slowly walk toward the other woman, always keeping an eye on Karkinoma.

"I wouldn't," the villain jumped in. "You see, if you don't play by my rules, I'll have to do something drastic again. And forgive me if I'm mistaken, but I believe that dear Ms. Lane is not even as skilled in defense as young Ms. Wayne. I don't think that it would end well."

For a moment, Angela prayed that the other three were paying too much attention on the situation and getting out of it to notice what Karkinoma called her. But as the last few days had proved, Angela was not in the middle of a good luck streak.

She took her eyes off of the villain for a moment to meet Bruce's eyes. It was one of the rare times that Angela had seen a gut reaction from the man with no mask. For all that Batman was the "Great Detective" he had never even entertained the possibility of his connection to her.

_I'll take care of this if I survive._

"What do you want?" Angela asked, taking over the conversation as the three adults stood in shock.

"Just you," Karkinoma smirked, taking pleasure in the blow he had dealt.

"If I come with you without a fight, you'll leave them alone." It wasn't a question.

"If I said yes, would you believe me?"

"Not a chance in hell."

"Then I guess that you have to decide between certain death for those with you, or possible death. Your choice."

It wasn't really that hard of a choice. Angela was walking forward before either Bruce or Clark realized it.

"Angela, wait!"

She turned and looked back at them, saw the conflict and bordering panic in Bruce's eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, hoping he would read that to apply to more than just the current situation.

She heard Karkinoma move behind her and felt a strong pressure on her neck. She faded into darkness.


	13. Both Sides of Time

Hello again

Sorry that this is late. Things got a little crazy and I lost track of some stuff. Nonetheless, here is the next installment; I think that it's worth the wait, but that's me. I hope you all feel the same.

So, a chapter without Angela in it. Or is it?

**Both Sides of Time**

_Watchtower, 2005_

"Great Hera," Diana muttered under her breath.

In all of her experience with her team members and all that they had faced together, she had never seen Batman or Superman looking so stunned. She wasn't alone in her confusion.

"What the hell happened?" Lantern demanded. "I saw the report on the bomb threat at the Planet, but I couldn't find the details."

"Karkinoma happened," Superman replied. "He attacked us at the Planet, but let us go…"

"He has Angela," J'onn finished for him.

"She turned herself over, thinking that he would leave us alone," Superman went on. "And, he actually _did_. But he was gone before either Batman or I could react."

"There's something more," Diana said. That couldn't be the only reason both men looked like they had suddenly been told something fundamentally life-altering.

"You knew," Batman turned to J'onn. "You knew who she was and you didn't tell any of us."

J'onn had the grace to look away before answering. "It was imparted to me by my future self and I agreed with his argument that if anyone knew exactly who her father is, it could irrevocably alter our very lives and the time line itself."

"What's going on now?" Flash asked somewhat impatiently.

"Angela's father is Batman," Diana said aloud for her herself.

All the assembled men turned to her in shock for various reasons.

"How did you know?" Superman asked.

"She said something when she was up here that implied it, but I don't think she noticed that she slipped," Diana replied honestly enough. Her real reasoning was that if Diana was the girl's step-mother, there could be only one man that Diana would ever be with who would be Angela's father.

"I don't get it though," Flash said.

Lantern rolled his eyes. "It's not that complicated."

"But think about it. Guardian-J'onn, whoever, said that they were from thirteen years in the future and Angela is definitely older than thirteen. So, how is this even possible?"

Hearing such a well thought out question from the Flash was the last straw. Batman stalked away from the group and began working on the computer. For the moment, none of his teammates felt the need to approach him just then.

"That is not important as of this moment," J'onn said, trying to dispel some of the tension.

"Right, we need to start thinking about getting the girl back," Superman caught on. "We can ask her our questions ourselves once we get her back."

"He'll know we're coming," Lantern argued. "He can't honestly think that we'll let this go so he'll be ready for us."

"J'onn can you contact her telepathically?" Diana asked.

"He must have her sedated, I can hear nothing from her."

"But can you at least get a location?"

"Yes."

"Let's start from there, then."

_ooo_

_Clocktower, 2028_

"Cat? They're all here."

The super heroine known as Shadowcat turned from the window that had previously held her attention. In the doorway stood one of her many associates, the newest Green Lantern currently active on Earth.

Shadwocat didn't bother to answer but walked through the room—so preoccupied that she didn't thank him for letting her through the door first—down the hallway, and into the dining room which was now acting as a conference area. Seated at the table were a number of heroes as representatives of their teams. All were known to Shadowcat quite closely and to each other, so no one was fully masked or costumed. The parts of their uniforms that were visible all bore signs of battle and injuries.

Green Lantern took one of the two remaining seats, exhaustion written in every line of his body to those who knew him well enough to read them. The late-twenties aged man was of Chinese decent, though tall for his genetics. His face was colored with bruises and he walked with a slight limp from a dislocated knee. He had been one of the first to communicate with Cat during the crisis that faced the entire super hero community.

His other representative from the Justice League was the orange-garbed Bolt, better known to Cat as Barry West. At twenty years old, Barry was the youngest member of the League, a necessary action in the wake of his father's retirement due to injury. To combat any assumptions of his team members, Barry had not chosen t take on his father's name along with his father's place. For him, it was enough that he was learning from so many experienced heroes. He, too, bore signs of conflict, but mostly in the gray pallor of his face.

Next to Barry was his long-time best friend Nathan Lane, also called Supernova who was still the leader of the Titans—without the "Teen" since it was made up of young adults into their very early twenties as well as actual teens. Supernova had a blazing white star on his red uniform in place of the "S" emblem on Superman's. The main consideration keeping Nova from being the acknowledged son of Superman was the fact that he couldn't fly. He was gifted with his father's super-speed, enhanced strength, and heat vision. There was talk of him joining the League and turning over the Titans to his second in command: Blue Moon.

The Titans showed their concern for the current meeting by sending both Supernova and Blue Moon to the gathering. Anyone other than Shadowcat would have been surprised by that. Unlike Nova, Blue Moon had come out as a hero as the daughter of Wonder Woman which no one could deny any way. Penelope Wayne had been chosen by her mother's gods as another champion and bore the silver cuffs and lasso that were so integral to Wonder Woman's image. She was young enough to still ask for her mother's advice, but independent enough to choose her own name and not the nom-de-guerre of Wonder Girl. Both she and Nova were invulnerable enough to have escaped most visible injuries.

Two of Shadowcat's own team mates were present to represent the Birds of Prey. Both, ironically, were Penny's friends, Lara Kent and Donna West as the White Eagle and Streak respectively. Lara had the same problem as her brother in claiming her paternal heritage as a hero; she could fly, unlike her brother, but her other skills were enhanced senses and x-ray vision. The white-clad hero was also a trained EMT and implemented distance weapons like her favorite boomerang. Donna was still fairly new to the hero business and was content with the localized missions available to her as a member of the Birds.

It was a new generation of heroes, and right then, they were the ones in the best shape to take on the next challenge.

"Let's get started," Cat began, taking the seat next Lantern. "Forgive me for repeating the obvious, but everyone needs to be on the same page for this. As you all know, several hours ago, the Titans and League were attack simultaneously by the villain named Karkinoma. What some of you may not know is that this is by no means the first we've heard of this cretin. With the manner of the attacks and his knowledge of weaknesses he has demonstrated that he knows the inner workings of our teams and our people very well and he is good enough to exploit them. Let's get the worst of it out of the way and start with casualties. Nova?"

"Our worst is Warhawk. He broke a wing on a bad landing and a bone splinter nicked an artery; he almost bled out on the spot but Moon got him to the hospital quick enough."

Everyone lost a slight degree of tension on hearing that the boy was not in immediate danger. Warhawk, or Michael Stewart, was an eager member of the Titans, though even more new than Donna to this way of life. All those children of the League founders were as close as cousins due to being thrown together so often in childhood. Each one took it personally if another was hurt.

"Luckily, Shayera came quickly and could advise them on how to treat the wing," Moon broke in. "Rex was still bleeding out and the doctors were about to call in a vet who dealt with falcons."

Cat couldn't help but smirk at the nickname for Michael. When he had been seven years old, he had gone on a trip to the museum and brought home a toy Tyrannosaurus Rex and had spent the next several years with it at his side. That had earned him the name "Rex" which most everyone called him and often forgot his given name.

"The rest of our injuries were bruises, sprained joints, and few broken bones. We only had grunts attacking us, but a lot of them. I think our guy went after the League himself and sent his minions to keep us from acting as back up," Nova surmised with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"I'm inclined to agree," Cat said. She turned her head sideways to Lantern. "What are the damages to the League?"

"We had our share of hired guns, too," he answered. "We had more serious injuries: broken bones, concussions… our worst was Superman. He was grappling with the bastard and then just fell back, I'm not sure what happened. Wonder Woman rushed him to the planet-side League friendly hospital."

"I got a call from Mom about ten minutes ago," Eagle added. "He's…in a coma. He was injected with a liquid form of kryptonite and they can't figure out a safe way to flush out his blood stream. Nate and I can't even transfuse him since we're half human. The doctors aren't sure if he'll come out of it."

Shadowcat could well recall how solid kryptonite at a distance could damage the Man of Steel, she felt her stomach lurch at the thought of that poison actually flowing through his veins. Cat kept her expression unchanged and watched her colleagues carefully, searching for signs that either Eagle or Nova would crack and be unable to move onto the mission she had planned. Eagle merely looked stunned in the face of her father's vulnerability while her brother simmered with barely controlled rage. No doubt he felt guilty for being unable to go to his father's aid. As long as he could still control it, Cat wasn't going to worry about him any more than she had to.

"So what do we do now?" Lantern asked her. "I'm assuming you have a plan."

"Right. So far, the Birds haven't been touched at all and I'm thinking it's because he doesn't know everything about us and therefore won't move until he does. Our luck is in; he may think he knows who Oracle is, but he can only be half right."

"And what does that mean for us?" Streak asked. "So what if he hasn't come after _one_ team out of our entire community?"

"Just listen to the whole thing," Cat admonished. "The point is, we all know that he's from the future. He knows too much and he has the technology that is beyond ours besides just the ability to time travel. Here's the thing: he's a criminal from his own people. Time travel is illegal in his time and they monitor it very much because almost all of their criminals look to distort the time stream continuum to create chaos."

"Does that mean we'll be getting help from them? Will some come here?" Bolt asked.

"No. The ones who would want to come back to take Karkinoma into custody are bound by the same laws of 'no time travel' that he's breaking."

"So how the hell is that going to help us?" Nova demanded, slamming his fist on the table. Cat didn't berate him for it because the hit was only the amount of force as a normal human. He still had control over his abilities.

"I said that they can't come back," Cat began to explain calmly. "I never said that they wouldn't give us information as well as tools to even the score."

There was a stunned silence at the table. Finally, Lantern pulled himself together to inquire, "What have we got to work with and what are we going to do with it?"

Shadowcat pulled out several devices out of the pockets of her trench coat. "These are tracking devices that can detect if someone is out of their natural time. And these little babies will return any life form to its given timeline, regardless of any other type of technology. No matter what, if we can get one of these things on Karkinoma and press the little button, he's back in his own time, facing his own punishments."

"And we're trusting that their version of justice and ours are similar enough and that he will pay for his crimes committed here?" Moon asked shrewdly. "Can we trust this source?"

"To answer the second question first," Cat began. "I trust this source with my life. It was proven to me without a doubt that this can be relied on. And you can trust me that Karkinoma will pay for the crimes he's committed here as well as the other times he's mucked about with. For them, any crime committed is considered worse if it is also done with the intent of damaging the time stream continuum."

"Wait, he's been elsewhere?" Eagle cut in. "Else-when, whatever."

"Did you really think that a time-traveling villain with knowledge of our identities was really going to satisfy himself with destroying us once?" Lantern answered for Cat.

"He's right," Shadowcat agreed. "Part of the information I was given is that he's been leaping backward in time every five years or so until recently."

"What's happened that's different?" Nova asked.

"These people can track the disturbances in the timeline and told me when he's been. After he left us, he stopped briefly ten years ago and is now in the year 2005."

"So how are we going to get him?" Bolt asked.

Shadowcat smirked. "Nothing in the future laws say that we can't time travel and do the job ourselves given the proper equipment."

There were several grins that matched Cat's around the table.

"Let's finish this."


	14. Face to Face

Hello again

A word about cliffhangers: not all are intentional. I give warning when I deliberately leave things hanging. The ending of the last chapter and several other chapters that were accused of being cliffhangers were nothing more than convenient breaking points between events. Not to preach, but trust me, my cliffhangers are small things in the grand scheme of things. Anyone who doubts me should read the end of Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkein.

Secondly: it took me a long time to come up with Shadowcat. Yes, the name is also a character in Marvel's X-men comics, but come on, you have to admit that the name fits.

Lastly (I promise): This will be the last update for a few weeks or maybe even a month. Anyone going to upper level education can relate to the insanity that occurs as we pack up for college and transition from home to dorm. My apologies. I will have the last chapters up as soon as I possibly can. A lot happens in the chapter which should tide you over until then.

**Face to Face**

"Cat, we have a problem."

Shadowcat paused in her stalking and motioned to her partner to pause as well. She turned her attention to her earpiece which was critical to their communication with the other pairs.

"Make it quick," she ordered shortly.

"Check your time tracker and verify that I'm reading this thing correctly," Bolt clarified.

Cat gestured Lantern to consult their time-tracking device. He did, and frowned.

"If he's talking about two separate blips being tracked, then I'm with him," Lantern confirmed.

"Two different readings, right?" Shadowcat asked the speedster.

"Yeah. One's red and flashing and much bigger and the other is yellow and passive. They're both in the same warehouse I'm watching."

"All right. I'm going to assume that the bigger, red dot is our evil bastard," Cat said. "Call up the other pair and scout the building, but _do not engage_ until Lantern and I join you. We'll check out the second flare. I want to see this new player for myself."

"Okay. By the way, I can tell that someone else is scoping the place out as well."

"Sweet merciful… can you tell who?"

"Get ready to laugh: it's our parents."

Shadowcat never laughed, but at this, she did smile.

"What's the game plan for them, Cat?"

"Most of us have costumes that they'll at least recognize as allies. Stay out of their way as much as possible, but if you can't avoid it, tell them the bare details and make sure to wait for me."

"Got it. Hurry."

"Right." Shadowcat turned to Lantern once more. "Let's check it out."

Lantern nodded gravely and took Shadowcat's arm in his, floating both of them into the air and soaring through the sky to the warehouse Bolt had spotted. It was child's play for the two to sneak into the building and search out the room they wanted.

Operating under "stealth" conditions, Lantern merely tapped the wall next to the door to indicate the room that was their goal. The door opened to the touch and led into a room shrouded in darkness except for one beam of light in the middle. In the middle of the light shaft, the form of a seemingly unconscious girl was suspended.

Shadowcat stood in shock, finding it hard to breath. Lantern was in a similar state. In unison, both came to awareness and muttered identical and colorful phrases.

_ooo_

She felt neither hot nor cold, saw neither darkness nor light, felt neither awake nor sleep. She floated, suspended even in her own mind. Dimly, she could hear a far-off voice that sounded familiar, but she couldn't focus enough to identify the person or respond in any way. Her thoughts tumbled and shifted as if caught in a breeze, nothing was permanent and nothing was tangible.

Slowly, as if rising up through mist, she started to remember. The attack at the Manor…Karkinoma…the Justice League…her surrender. Just as slowly, her senses began processing information again so that she could feel the bite of cold air on her skin and smell the slightly metallic scent in the air. Her vision remained blurry, but she could begin to hear snatches of conversation and feel someone's hands steady her as she gained her footing.

"….panic. …heroes…future. ….hyperstasis….just a moment."

Angela first let the hands help her stand and then came to the conclusion that she couldn't trust anyone. Still partially blind, she struck out and attempted to make a run for it. Those same hands that had firmly held her by the arms now reached for her again and seized Angela's wrists. Angela attempted to fend them off, but couldn't seem to move at even her average response time, let alone the level she had come to in the past few days.

"Ryan, I've got this."

That same voice which was disturbingly familiar called out while at the same time the attached body moved to constrain Angela. Both of her hands were held firmly and twisted so that her arms were crossed across her chest and held there from behind. Angela's shaky legs needed little encouragement to bend so that she kneeled.

"You need to listen to me. We're heroes from the future and we're here to help you. You can trust us, I promise."

"Prove it," Angela hissed out, gaining move vision perception every second. She still couldn't see the person holding her, but could now see a costumed man in front of her. His costume was green, black, and white with the familiar Green Lantern Corps symbol on his shoulder.

The person—a woman, Angela now realized—took in a deep breath before responding. Angela felt the woman's head lean closer.

"Once upon a time, there was a princess who loved adventure. She had no family…"

Angela froze, hearing the whispered words for the second time in only so many days. The woman continued the story, speaking it word-for-word as Angela knew it. Sensing that Angela wouldn't fight anymore, the woman released the teen girl from her hold. Angela gained her feet and slowly turned to her former captor.

The woman was only two inches taller than Angela herself, dressed in a costume Angela had never seen before. The overall jumpsuit was dark gray and shaped to the woman's body closely. There was a black belt around her waist, an obvious model after Batman's utility belt. Over this, the woman wore a dark blue trench coat that was also fitted closely except for the bottom on the coat. Angela could see that the coat was attached to the belt and could not be taken off the woman by force. Her knee high boots had little, if any, heel and her mask covered the top half of her face. Blond hair was confined in a single braid and green eyes gazed intensely at Angela.

Angela stared back at who she had to admit was her future self.

"I think I'm getting a headache," Angela muttered.

"That's probably a reaction to coming out of the hyperstasis," the mystery Green Lantern added.

He walked over to join to two different versions of the same woman and caught Angela as she started to sway on her feet. "Take it easy, there."

"How long was I like that?" Angela asked.

"No idea," her future self answered promptly. "I would like to know what you're doing here. Last time I checked, I am—we are—supposed to be four years old, and you're a touch older than that."

"I was escaping a villain named Karkinoma who is from the future," Angela explained, raising her eyebrow at her other self in a silent question.

"Yes, we're tracking him from our own timeline even though he's from the future for us, too," the woman answered.

"Look—what do I call you any way?" Angela asked.

The other one exchanged looks with the Green Lantern before answering. "We'll worry about the timeline later, namely screwing it up; call me Shadowcat."

The name resonated in Angela's very being and she smiled slightly, repeating the name to herself softly. "Shadowcat."

Shadowcat smiled back. Then, she gave a curt nod to Green Lantern. He nodded back and helped lower Angela to her feet then stepped back. Angela watched him press a hand to his ear and send out a message with some kind of communication device.

"Bolt, Nova. You and your partners have the go-ahead to come into the building. Watch for Karkinoma and rendez-vous at our location with the secondary time signature."

Angela could even faintly hear the responses.

"GL, we've hooked up with the present day League. Scared the stuffing out of them, but they all seem to have gotten over it quickly. They seem to think they're looking for one of ours who has been in this year for the last several days. We don't know how to respond."

"They're right in a way," Lantern responded. "Cat and I will give you details when we meet up. If you can't leave them on their own, have our people pair up with the League members and come in that way. Got it?"

"Copy all that. We'll meet you in ten."

Angela breathed steadily for several moments, regaining a sharper awareness with every breath.

"Now will you tell me exactly who this sonuvabitch is?" she demanded as patiently as she could.

The two future heroes exchanged loaded glances before Shadowcat sighed and looked deeply into Angela's eyes.

"His name, Karkinoma, is the ancient Greek word for cancer, and like a cancer, he started with one area of the super hero community and then spread at a rapid rate. At first, we didn't take much notice that lone heroes who typically don't have a lot of contact with others were disappearing, but then enough people went missing or turned up dead. As Oracle, I started tracking his movements as much as possible." Shadowcat held up a hand to stall Angela's question. "For the past few months, Karkinoma's been growing more powerful and more daring as he works his way up our ranks. We knew we were in trouble when most of the Arrows got hit, but we still weren't prepared for his final assault. He gathered enough lackeys to attack both the Titans and the Justice League simultaneously. After that, I came into contact with someone from Karkinoma's original time who gave us weapons and a means to travel in time ourselves as well as send that bastard back to his own people. Now, you tell me your story."

Angela told the abbreviated version of her past week, watching as an odd expression came over Shadowcat's face.

"I remember this…" the hero muttered. "Like a vague form of déjà vu."

Lantern had come over and placed a hand on his partner's shoulder. She jerked slightly at his touch before gathering her wits about her again. "Oh well. We'll figure it out later."

At that moment, the first of the other pairs had begun to arrive, in this case: Blue Moon and Superman.

The Man of Steel ignored the others in the room and came to Angela's side in an eyeblink.

"Angela! Are you all right?"

Angela assured him as best she could while still feeling disoriented from whatever daze Karkinoma had placed her in and fighting back a tension headache from meeting her future self. Superman swept his gaze over every inch of her body which would have made anyone else uncomfortable, but Angela knew that he was performing his own evaluation of her state of being.

"I can't detect anything physically wrong with you," he said at last and turned his attention to Angela's company.

Shadowcat forestalled anything else Superman would ask by saying, "Let's save explanations for when everyone's here."

The next group to arrive was a hero Angela would learn was Supernova with J'onn and Batman. While Nova and Moon gaped at Angela—after all, they were for the first time technically older than she was—Angela gained her feet by using the support from the wall behind her. She didn't want to see Batman from the floor.

He distanced himself from his companions and approached her steadily and silently. His expression was inscrutable even for someone as skilled and versed in reading him as Angela was.

Caught in his soul-scorching gaze, Angela found herself babbling. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you only I knew that you didn't even know I _existed_ in this time and I didn't want to change my past if you did find out and I had just lost you and it was so _hard_ looking at you like nothing had happened when I had seen you dead at my feet and—"

Two strong arms swept her up in a firm embrace, nearly squeezing the life out of her. Angela squeezed back with all of her returning strength. Unbidden tears again trickled down her cheeks, luckily hidden from view by Batman's cape which cocooned her from the others.

"I don't know how it's possible that you are mine," the Dark Knight whispered in her ear. "But that doesn't matter to me as much right now as knowing that you are safe."

Someone nearby cleared their throat politely. Batman and Angela disentangled themselves and leveled equal glares at the person. Angela stopped when she saw that it was Shadowcat, but Batman continued to glare.

"Batman, this is Shadowcat."

He looked from the hero to the girl in his arms and then softened the expression on his face.

"Now I see it."

Shadowcat smirked. "Glad to hear it. We'll talk about what you do with this new information once we have Karkinoma in custody and sent to his own time."

It took a few moments for the other heroes from both teams to arrive, but once they did, the room seemed much smaller. There were now thirteen heroes from three different times, carefully treading the tension of past heroes looking at slightly familiar costumes and future heroes interacting with their parents as equals.

Angela was slightly surprised to see Shadowcat take charge once everyone was assembled.

"We'll save particulars for later, but right now, I want everyone to know everyone else's name and basic abilities. For those who don't know, I'm Shadowcat and I _will_ be leading this expedition. I have no meta-human abilities, but I've been trained for combat."

The future heroes took their cue from Shadowcat and rattled off their information just as easily. There were interesting reactions from the Justice League heroes as they recognized powers and abilities. There wasn't a problem until the future Green Lantern introduced himself.

"For the sake of identity crisis," Shadowcat broke in. "You're going by your undercover name."

The man sighed in resignation.

Supernova and Bolt exchanged chuckles. "Dragon. Kind of pretentious, isn't it?" Nova joked.

"Need we bring out your old name?" his sister asked sweetly. "_Hardcore_?"

The half-Kryptonian groaned. "I was fifteen!" he protested.

"Focus."

There was a quiet, but firm, reprimand from Shadowcat that stilled the twins immediately. Angela couldn't help but marvel.

"We're here to get the job done. Our lives depend on it more than ever."


	15. The Breath Before the Plunge

Hello again

I know that's it's been a while and this isn't even the chapter that I intended to be next… but I figured that you would appreciate whatever I can conjure up.

So, I had not even meant to write this chapter (and it's shorter than normal, sorry!) but this is what happens when you write well-developed characters. They don't listen to you anymore!

The next update won't be for another few weeks or even a month. I have a very busy performance schedule this term and all the final dates are drawing closer. Most people aren't crazy enough to try for a workshop musical, a professional competition, and a recital in two and a half months. Well, I never said that I was sane.

And without any further babbling…here's the unexpected chapter!

**The Breath Before the Plunge**

Angela watched on, dumbfounded, as Shadowcat quickly assigned pairings that not only spread out members from both teams, but also distributed powers evenly as well as "family" members. Supernova remained with Batman and J'onn; Blue Moon paired off with Superman as before. Bolt was grouped with Diana and Green Lantern while White Eagle was paired with the Flash, leaving Angela to accompany Shadowcat and Dragon.

"You look bewildered, little angel," Dragon remarked quietly.

The two of them were standing in a corner, waiting for Shadowcat to join them. Angela glanced sharply at the hero.

"Little angel?"

"Well, 'angel' is one of your nicknames, and you are so much younger than I'm used to."

Angela shrugged. "I guess. I'm just a little surprised to see myself as a hero, let alone being the one in charge. It's…disconcerting."

"Leave it to you to use big words when you're confused," Dragon muttered. "Even as a teen."

Angela frowned slightly, wondering at where this man got the nerve. Obviously, he knew her future self very well, but that didn't mean that she would take casual comments like that lightly.

Luckily, Shadowcat joined them before Angela could loose her temper. The woman took one look at the both of them and then promptly smacked her partner on the shoulder. He looked affronted, but must have known better than to attempt retaliation.

"What was that for?" he demanded.

"You said something to piss her off and you do not want that to happen," Shadowcat explained. "This is not the time to give her a negative impression of you before she's even supposed to meet you."

"I was just—"

"She's not me," Shadowcat cut in. "Not yet. She has also been through more than even I have in many ways. So, let's nail this bastard and start fixing it."

Shadowcat turned away again, leaving Angela alone with Dragon once again. There was a moment of stunned silence from both of them that Angela eventually broke.

"I become her?" she asked, somewhat bewildered.

Dragon smirked hesitantly. "That you do. And trust me when I say that no one would want it anyway different."

Angela smiled back.

ooo

Shadowcat selfishly allowed herself a moment to simply watch the gathered superheroes as they mingled within their pairings or groups, subtly—or not so subtly—feeling each other out. Despite processing new information from Angela, Shadowcat had been keeping track of how the two teams had paired up to enter the warehouse. She had tried to keep those consistent as she divided them to search the building for Karkinoma.

It was a moment that she could never have predicted, but wanted to appreciate while she was there. In her musing, she was approached by her sister, Moon.

"I don't know about you, but I'm freaking out here," the young teen hero remarked casually. "I mean, Mom looks the same as ever, but that's _Dad_. I can barely remember him when he was Batman, he stepped down when I was what, nine years old?"

"Yeah. It's been awhile for me, too."

"And this isn't even the first time we've had time travel in the family," Moon continued. "Remember Dad's story about when he and Uncle John went to the past _and_ the future and—"

"I remember, Moon. You don't need to tell me."

Penelope Wayne would have to have been a ditzy cheerleader to have missed the slight edge in her voice.

"Are you okay? I know the pressure's getting to all of us, but we'll work together and get this thing done right."

"And after? Dad knows that I exist before he's supposed to. The League know that at some point almost all of them have children and with whom. I'm just glad that Warhawk's not here, or John would know that Shayera's coming back. And, Angela knows her nom de guerre before she's even allowed to don the Kevlar. And all of this seems so damned familiar that's it's about to send me off the wall."

"Shadowcat," Moon said, knowing that the name would ground her sister. "This isn't all on your shoulders. You've got me and Ryan, the twins and Barry and Donna. We're not going to make you do this on your own. Come on, Dick, Tim, and Cass have told both of us the horror stories; don't turn into what Dad used to be like. We're family and we fight side by side."

Shadwocat took a long moment to look her sister in the eye before a degree of tension left her shoulders. Moon figured that it was the best she could hope for.

"How did you get so smart?" Cat asked.

"Well, despite my phase of being an absolute dunderhead, I did grow out of it and I did that by watching you."

For a moment, the sisters stood side by side, returning to the silent observation. Shadowcat could tell that Moon's attention kept drifting to Angela. Shadowcat waited patiently for Moon to speak.

"I'm worried about her," Moon finally said. "She's got this look in her eye, like she's been trapped in Hell and trying to claw her way out. I mean, she still looks like you, but more haunted."

"Let's fix that, shall we?"

"After you, sister dear,"

ooo

Batman was known as much for his intelligence as his physical capabilities. And yet he had spent almost a week staring his daughter in the face without realizing it. It was true that she bore no resemblance to him, but she was so much her mother's image that Batman knew that he should have at least deduced her mother's identity. While deriding himself, he also couldn't help but feel pride that Angela had been good enough to keep her secrets from him.

Not only did he have the dubious privilege of discovering he had a daughter as she was nearly grown, but he could also see said daughter as a grown adult and clearly in assumption of all her confidence and grace.

Seeing Angela as the adult, and as Shadowcat…it was almost like watching her mother, but without the sensual overtones. She reminded him of himself in her focus and determination and utter seriousness relating to the task at hand. But there was a slight smirk to her lips that reminded him of Dick—just as putting the teenaged Angela to bed had. The intelligence that brilliantly shone from her eyes could have come from exposure to Barbara. Her easy but active stance could come from a number of people.

And for him, she was still technically four years old, living with her mother.

Her mother who would die within a year.

Batman may be known for brooding, but not during a mission, so he forced his thoughts out of his mental processing and turned his attention to his two companions: J'onn and Supernova.

With a name like that, Batman hadn't needed to hear his litany of abilities to guess whose son he was.

The other two had been conversing, but came to a pause just as Batman started paying attention.

"All of you seem close," Batman remarked directly at the young man.

Supernova smiled. "Well, started when we were kids. For me, Eagle and Bolt, our powers erupted really early, as in toddler years. So, we were all tutored together until we got our powers under control. That, plus the fact that we'd get babysat together whenever the League had something huge going on."

"Aren't you all on different teams?" J'onn asked. Introductions had also included team affiliations.

"That's just semantics. The Titans know that if something happens to the Birds, Moon and I are gone. The League knows that if the Titans need help, Bolt's gone before they can all blink. Sure, all the teams become like family, but all of us were raised as close as family."

Most of the other heroes knew that Batman did not fraternize outside of missions and meetings. The others would socialize a bit in downtime. He never did. Watching Supernova as well as his peers, he knew that for them, it wasn't socializing. It was simply time spent with family.

He knew that he couldn't change his behavior, but he was glad that his daughter had a chance for something better.

End chapter

Per request from KnightandPrincessLover, here's a quick character list:

Angela Wayne (28)—Shadowcat—BOP--human, weapons of choice: escrima sticks

Ryan Chang (29)—Green Lantern—Justice League--human, Green lantern ring

Barry West (20)—Bolt—Justice League—superspeed, weapon of choice: spelled shield

Nathan Kent (20)—Supernova—Teen Titans--superstrength, superspeed, heat vision, some invulnerability

Lara Kent (20)—White Eagle—BOP--flight, enhanced senses, x-ray vision, some invulnerability, weapons of choice: boomerang

Penelope Wayne (18)—Blue Moon—Teen Titans--Amazon/human, superstrength, flight, some invulnerability, weapons of choice: lasso and wrist guards

Donna West (17)—Streak—BOP—superspeed, weapons of choice: collapsible bo-staff (note: she is not on the mission to the past, but I thought I would remind you that's she's in the 'family' too)

Hope that helps everyone keep the various costumed folk straight.


	16. Battle of the Generations

For those who missed it and need it, I included a brief list of the future heroes, their names, powers, etc. in the previous chapter.

Sorry it's been awhile. To make it up to you, I think this is close to one of my longest chapters. You are all very wonderful people for being so patient with me. Thank you so much. We're getting to the end and I am tickled to see that I have 65 reviews. So thank you to: Kipling Nori, cloudleonsgurl, Darkmagyk, winthjo, BKK, MereAngel, Melua, WalkingDisasters, Lyz Shadow, BMWWfan, googs14, galita, Guardian of the Crest, wawaboy2, FairyQueen, GabbyKat13, d-scarlet, JoPoGirlsKickAss, Okikuchan, Fangirl44, Protector of Canon2, JaxWin, Legacy Now, and last but certainly not least, KnightandPrincessLover (11 reviews!). Let's see if we can hit 75 or maybe even 80 by the epilogue. Also, I will include blurbs from two possible next projects.

Happy reading!

**Battle of the Generations**

Since her first days in Wayne Manor, Angela had spent countless hours creeping around the hallways on an "adventure" of some kind. This habit had eventually led to her discovery of her father's night life.

This particular instance, however, was not one of Angela's made up stories where she was hunting for treasure or a secret entrance to Narnia. This was about her right to live and her right to fight for her family. She crept quietly after Dragon in the darkened corridors of the abandoned warehouse, safe in the knowledge that Shadowcat was taking the rear guard.

Some part of Angela knew that even if the entire group of heroes hadn't been cautious about surroundings, Shadowcat still would have insisted on "high alert" as the standard operating procedure. So far, there had been no activity from Karkinoma and his considerable resources, but most of them reasoned that that didn't mean they should assume they'd catch the villain unawares.

"Thirty meters," Dragon muttered quietly, monitoring the hand-held tracker.

At different points throughout the building, Angela knew that the other pairings and teams were positioning themselves similarly while others were waiting as back up.

Another ten meters later, Shadowcat's commlink buzzed into life.

"Cat! Under attack! Be ready!"

Angela hesitantly placed the voice as Eagle's, who was paired with Flash. They along with Bolt, Diana, and Green Lantern were the two back up groups.

Dragon wasted no time calling the younger speedster and received no answer. Meanwhile, Cat was passing the word along to Supernova and Blue Moon.

Before Angela could try to think of something to do, she discovered that they were also under attack. Dragon and Cat sprang into action, Angela not too far behind them. Once again, Angela was holding her own against men stronger and bigger than she was. However, despite the intense training session with Batman, Angela was still only seventeen years old, she hadn't been sleeping or eating properly and she was recovering from the stasis field's effects. One well-placed blow behind her knee sent Angela to the floor. Before she could struggle to her feet again, she felt herself rise in the air while still remaining in a prone position.

Above the head of her assailant, Angela traced the glowing, green mattress underneath her to Dragon's ring, his hand outstretched in her direction while his attention and other hand continued to fight back another grunt. Once that man was knocked clear of the chaos, Dragon took the chance to catch Angela's eyes to check on her. She nodded to his raised eyebrows and felt herself lower to the floor slowly enough that she landed feet down.

"Get to the source!" Cat ordered.

The three each broke away from whoever was surrounding them and raced for the door at the end of the corridor that had been their goal.

"Converge on the target!" Cat ordered over the commsystem. She received confirmation from everyone that they were on their way. "Dragon, we need a new door!"

"Got it covered."

Green light surrounded Shadowcat and Angela, bringing them alongside Dragon who then formed a sphere around them.

"Brace yourself," he warned mere seconds before the power sphere broke through the wall into the main working floor of the warehouse. Already, Batman, J'onn, Supernova, Blue Moon, and Superman were battling against a horde of soldiers.

Shadowcat kept Angela by her side for a moment. "Hold back until we get close to Karkinoma." She carefully pushed Angela behind a pile of crates. Once Shadowcat had joined in the fight, Angela looked down at the object the hero must have slipped into her hands before leaving. It was a handheld device similar to the tracking device, so Angela assumed that it was the "return" gadget. Angela slipped it into a pocket of her skirt just a breath before someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"Miss me?"

Angela was thrown back into a wall just as she recognized Karkinoma's white clad form and sly smirk.

"Like a plague," Angela spat out, pushing herself away from the wall.

It was a repeat of their fight at the park. Angela dodged to the best of her ability, also managing to maneuver them out into the open space of the cavern so that the others could see them both. Karkinoma meanwhile always seemed to be toying with her, purposefully not using his most dangerous blows to take her out. The fact that she could hear several heroes shout her name told Angela that her situation was noticed, even if not easily fixed at the moment.

"Surprised to see our reinforcements?" Angela asked. Normally, she wasn't one to chat while fighting , but she was quickly discovering that it helped relieve tension.

"Couldn't be more pleased."

_Damn, not the reaction I was hoping for._

Angela took a moment to check on the others, always keeping one eye on her opponent. Flash was on the floor, though Angela couldn't see why. White Eagle hovered over him protectively, employing a boomerang with startling accuracy. J'onn, Supernova, and Wonder Woman were also working the upper element, catching the projectiles and electrified nets that were being launched by some of the henchmen. There was a flash of red light that hit the young Kryptonian which caused him to plummet to the floor. Angela suspected that a similar occurrence had taken out Superman as he was fighting sluggishly.

Angela's attention then had to return fully to Karkinoma, just in time for him to catch her in a partial head-lock with a wicked looking dagger held pointed at her collarbone.

ooo

It was one of those moments that came in critical battles. One single action stood out amidst the chaotic jumble of bodies to halt every single person's movement.

When Karkinoma managed to restrain Angela, causing the girl to curse loudly, it caught everyone's attention, arresting all other action. Shadowcat felt Dragon at her side in less than a moment, lending his presence without crowding her. For long heart-beats, no one said anything. All of Cat's people, she knew, were waiting for her to make the first move, but she was surprised that the Justice League members were also waiting on her.

Shadowcat was much like her father in that she could think quickly enough that her third and fourth thoughts usually appeared to be her first reactions. There were many things she could say and many things she wanted to say. In the end, she settled.

"You have our attention."

"I never thought I would get to a point where it would be so easy to end your life," Karkinoma smiled.

"If you do, it will be your last action while breathing," Dragon growled.

"Seconded," Blue Moon called out from her position on the other side of Karkinoma and Angela.

"But it will be worth it. By killing her, I achieve three deaths."

Even Shadowcat was taken aback by his statement. All the others exchanged confused expressions. Only Supernova was willing to voice it.

"What third person?"

It was a legitimate question after all. The heroes of course were counting Angela and Shadowcat as separate people, but no one could even guess at the third. Except Dragon and Shadowcat herself.

Karkinoma filled in the blanks for everyone else.

"I was counting on another adversary of mine to contact you. It was a logical choice, after all. He's always been a little nuisance, always following our rules and laws. But that never stopped him from exploiting loop holes. Did he tell you who he was? Tell you things that only a person in his situation could know?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," Shadowcat answered.

"Must have been a shock for you, talking to your son."

Cat refused to flinch or in any way acknowledge the secret that she had been sitting on for several weeks. Dragon, while not an emotional man, still reacted subtly by leaning ever so slightly closer to his partner.

Angela froze even more still than she had been to begin with. Her eyes locked onto Shadowcat's, not needing words to convey her reaction. Being in such close quarters with him, Karkinoma sensed the slight change in her posture.

"Is this a secret she's kept from you as well? You see, my dear, you aren't the target. Not the ultimate one. Those heroes I mentioned in our last encounter? Your son grows up to be one of the most righteous white knight of them all. Are you proud? Or perhaps you know me well enough to know the kinds of things I've done to your boy. And then I thought, why not cut him off before he's even born."

"And that was your biggest mistake," Angela spoke calmly, shifting her feet to cover her other movement. "You just told me about another family member that I'm fighting to protect."

One hand flew up to grab the knife, twisting it on an angle while the other elbow jabbed backward. As she twisted and bent out of his hold, the same hand that hadn't been keeping the knife away from her skin slapped the transportation device onto Karkinoma's thigh. It wasn't a completely clean escape; the knife cut a decently deep slash across the juncture of her neck and shoulder as she leaped away.

At the first sign of action, Shadowcat had sprinted across the remaining distance between herself and Angela and Karkinoma. The villain had been taken aback by the event and stared after the girl before looking down to look at the circular piece of metal that had attached to his skin through his clothing.

He looked up again in shock as Shadowcat came near him. The hero channeled her momentum into a spinning roundhouse kick that landed precisely on the activator button. Shadowcat landed on her feet, watching in interest as Karkinoma's body shimmered in sparks for a moment before disappearing in a burst of light.

"No one threatens my child," she said quietly to the empty spot. Angela came up beside her, one hand clamped over the bleeding wound.

"No one threatens our family," she added.

"Everyone else!" Dragon shouted. "You take anyone unconscious and you get all of yourselves out of here. Now!"

The remaining henchmen scrambled to do as they were told. Once they were all gone, Angela gave in to her deepest wished and collapsed on the floor. She had barely taken a deep breath than she was surrounded by Batman, J'onn, Diana, Eagle and Moon. Through the mess of legs at her eye level, Angela could see Shadowcat allow herself to lean into Dragon's embrace.

Meanwhile, all the heroes circling her were each trying to ask if she was all right without taking turns and without waiting for her response. Finally, Angela saw Eagle summon her brother and Bolt, giving them some kind of signal. Without hesitation, both young men had cleared away everyone else so that Eagle could crouch down beside the teen girl.

"Keep your hand there a moment," she said, ignoring the adults who were trying to get her attention.

Eagle whipped out a packet the size of a text book which she had been carrying slung across her back. Upon opening it, Angela saw a basic field medical kit. Angela was asked a series of questions and then lifted her hand away when told.

"All right. Doesn't look like it needs stitches. I'll just apply some butterfly strips and some ointment. You're sure you don't feel any dizziness or nausea? I wouldn't put it past that bastard to have some poison on that blade."

"Nothing to worry about," Angela replied.

Shadowcat had approached them and sat down next to Angela.

"How did you know you were talking to your son? How did he prove it?"

"Same way I got you to trust me. Once upon a time…"

"…there was a princess who loved adventure."

"What happens now?" Diana asked, calling everyone to attention.

"We modify your memories, modify Angela's memories and send her home, and then we travel home ourselves," Shadowcat answered succinctly.

"Hold it, how are we doing that?" Supernova asked, his voice carrying over the multiple protests.

Shadowcat smirked and caught J'onn's eye. The others followed her gaze and also locked onto the Martian.

"All this time, I've been feeling a sense of déjà vu. I thought that Karkinoma was changing my past by attacking Angela and then coming here. But now that it's over, I know that it did happen to me." Shadowcat transferred her gaze to Angela. "Just as it happened to you.

"J'onn can suppress memories until they surface at appropriate times. As in, after the happenings of the memories have already taken place."

"You're saying that in ten years I'm going to be where you are right now talking to my seventeen year old self?" Angela asked incredulously.

"Exactly."

"And you think that we're just going to let you alter our memories on your command?" Superman jumped in.

"It's necessary," Shadowcat answered unashamed. She looked over at Batman. "Do you expect me to believe that you're going to sit tight for a year now that you know you have a daughter with Selina Kyle? You won't. I've known you for over twenty years, and you do not allow anyone to tell you what will happen in the future. If anything, you go out of your way to prove them wrong. You can't remember what's happened from the past few days. It's as simple as that."

"Why does J'onn get to remember?" Flash complained.

"He knows how to let things happen the way that they need to."

It only took another few moments of debate before Shadowcat merely nodded at J'onn. The Martian's eyes glowed as he concentrated on the minds of his teammates. All of them were cut off mid-protests while J'onn suppressed the specific memories and leaving behind triggers that would cause the memories to resurface at the appropriate time. Angela watched as the Justice League members move out of the warehouse as if they were sleep-walking.

Angela couldn't help but glare. "And I'm next?"

"It needs to happen," Shadowcat repeated. "You'll remember when you need to."

Angela looked into J'onn's eyes and quickly became hypnotized by the glow. The next moment, she was gone.


	17. Hell Breaks Loose Take Two

Whew. Last chapter. And it's the longest one. Can't believe we're here already but it's been a fun ride. We still have the epilogue coming up (it is a little short) and a small preview to determine if you want a prequel to this or a sequel. More details later.

Special thanks to KnightandPrincessLover, Legacy Now, and JaxWin. Remember to review! I'm at 70 reviews right now, and I'd love to hit 80 by the end of the epilogue.

Anyway, the last chapter as promised. Angela is returned to her rightful place in the timestream just in time to grab her destiny with both hands.

**Hell Breaks Loose Take Two**

_**"**__I was born of heroes, raised among heroes, trained with heroes! Now you act like I'm being unreasonable when I want to become one!" _

For a moment, only the sound of Angela's heavy breathing filled the Cave. Never in her life had Angela actually argued with her father in this fashion. She knew all too well how he was likely to respond.

His expression never faltered, remaining in stony disapproval and closed off to reason.

Angrily, Angela spun away from him, walking a few meters away. Behind her, she heard an alarm beep on the computer. She turned back and saw one of the monitor screens switch to Oracle's symbol.

"We've got something on the Joker. Batgirl has found his current base of operations."

"I'll be there. Contact Diana and tell her to send someone down to watch the kids."

Angela met her father's eyes as he stared at her for a moment before turning to gear up. Angela watched, expressionless, as he came out of the suit room in full armor and headed straight for the Batmobile. He looked back at her once before speeding away. Not even a breath later, the transporter that connected the Cave and the Watchtower flared light, revealing the Martian Manhunter.

"Angela? What are you doing down here?"

The girl stood and thought for a moment before making her decision.

"I'm stepping up."

She darted to the suit room and found Cassandra's old Batgirl suit that was a stripped down version of her current suit. The fit wouldn't be perfect, but it would do. Angela made some modifications and then donned the suit, boots, utility belt, and cowl.

When she came out, J'onn was waiting for her.

"Don't try to stop me," Angela warned, even though she knew that if he really wanted to, J'onn could lock her in her bedroom.

"I wasn't planning on it. You'll need more weapons than that belt."

Angela approached the weapons rack and pulled down a pair of escrima sticks. "Got it covered."

"Remember the training you've had. Be aware of your limits. Never give up."

With those words of parting, Angela grabbed one of the motorcycles and sped off into the night. Once she was on the road, she tapped the button that connected her directly to Oracle's frequency.

"Angela? What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that it's time Dad learns that I'm not the same frightened little girl anymore and I am going to fight to protect my family."

"All right, kiddo." Angela heard the laughter in Barbara's voice. "You just surprised me is all. Batman is tracking the Joker to a warehouse on 22nd and Jones Street. I'll send directions to the navigation system on your bike."

"Copy, Oracle. And…thanks."

With an extra kick to the speedometer, Angela was at the location in only seven minutes. She parked on the street, and debated her course of action. With determination, Angela implemented her grapple gun to scale up the wall of the warehouse and entered through one of the high windows. She landed on a walkway three stories up that circled the inside perimeter of the building. Keeping low to the floor, Angela peered through the railing to scope out the action.

The layout was fairly simple: there was a single room that comprised of the entire building's length and width. Parallel to her walkway was the complex weaving of piping and conduits that powered the lights and other systems in the warehouse. The wiring had long fallen out of its restraints and hung half-way down from the ceiling..

The warehouse must have been some kind of chemical factory when it had been in business. The problem was that the Joker was now using the large metal vats to mix up his own concoctions. In between the dozen vats were multiple henchmen done up in clown make-up, Harley Quinn, the Joker, Batgirl, and Batman.

Without a moment of hesitation, Angela reattached her grapple gun to the railing and jumped.

She swung into three men, knocking them all to the ground. She flipped to her feet without thinking about it.

"What's this? A new little Bat baby?" Harley called out, bringing Angela to the attention of everyone else.

Only Angela and Batgirl could read the absolute shock and anger that radiated from Batman in waves. Angela shrugged and then turned back to Harley and the grunt that was coming in her direction.

"There's already a Batgirl, so what should we call you?" Harley asked in a slightly cooing tone.

"This was kind of spur of the moment; I didn't really stop to think of a name," Angela replied flippantly.

All this while, Angela was trading hits and kicks with Harley and the lackey. Harley wasn't much of a fighter, but the man definitely had size in his favor. Nonetheless, within little time, Angela had the man unconscious and Harley running for her "puddin.'"

Angela moved on to help Batgirl with the henchmen she was fighting. Not that Batgirl needed help, but Angela was growing to like the thrill. Side-by-side, Angela fought with one of her teachers.

"He'll lock you up for this," Batgirl commented offhandedly.

"Good thing I can pick locks."

"Incoming!" Batman shouted over the general noises of fighting.

Angela and Batgirl looked up and saw that two men had tipped over one of the vats of boiling liquids. From the way the floor bubbled and crackled, Angela guessed it was one of the Joker's brands of acidic chemicals that he used in his flowers pinned on his jacket lapel.

Batgirl and Angela worked like cheerleaders to avoid the long, wide stream of corrosive acid heading their way. Batgirl propelled Angela up into the air where the teen grabbed hold of one of the thicker wires. She continued to swing, hooking her legs around another loop of cording and then let go with her hands to reach down for her partner. Now working like hire-wire gymnasts, Angela helped Batgirl swing up to join her. From there, the two shimmied across, coming to a perfect landing at Batman's side.

"New little girl in the family, Bats?" the Joker asked. "I'll just have to introduce myself. Flower for the young lady?"

Angela ducked the stream of acid that spurted from the flower with ease. She came up, throwing a Batarang which sliced the flower clean off the Joker's lapel.

"Hmm. Baby bat has some tricks. But so do I. You see, not all of these fun little concoctions are ones I've used before. Now, if you'll direct your attention to my lovely assistant, Harley."

Angela kept one eye on the clown and looked over to where Harley was perched over one of the vats. She was holding a burning matchstick.

_Okay, most likely flammable, probably combustible as well._

"If she drops it in, you will be caught in the blast as well," Batman remarked tersely.

"Not quite."

The Joker had a large gun pointed at them before they could blink and fired a long, steady stream of sticky substance at the heroes. Batman, Batgirl, and Angela were wrapped tight as cocoons in strips of hardened casing. All three fell to the floor.

"You see, Batsy. The compound is designed to have a prolonged reaction time, giving me and Harley plenty of time to skedaddle."

The tacky chemical bonding allowed some, if very limited movement. Both Batman and Batgirl were able to retrieve and throw weighted wires at both the Joker and Harley as if they had planned who would aim for whom. The Joker tripped over his tied up feet and landed on the floor, unconscious. Harley, instead of falling backward like Batgirl had planned, instead swayed on her feet, dropped the match into the bubbling chemical and then slipped over sideways.

Angela meanwhile had spotted the Joker's flower where it had landed barely two meters away from her. Without another thought, she rolled over and grabbed the flower to the best of her ability. Mostly, her arms were locked at her sides, but she could move her hands to some extent. She held the flower in one hand and aimed for the other. A simple squeeze and her arm was free after some tugging. She rolled back over to her father and Batgirl, getting the both of them started with disintegrating the material.

"How much time do you think we have?" Angela asked casually.

"Assume less than sixty seconds," her father answered tightly.

As soon as each of them was loose enough to stand, they leapt to their feet. Batgirl handed Harley over to Angela to take outside while she and Batman worked on the Joker and henchmen that hadn't already fled. Once outside, Angela whipped out plastic cords and secured Harley, waiting for her father and friend to come out one last time. Batgirl brought out the last of the lackeys, waiting with Angela somewhat anxiously.

"That's it, I'm going back," the teen said, moving toward the warehouse.

Batgirl held her firmly. "He'll make it out, be patient."

Not even a breath later, Batman came racing out of the building, carrying a man over his back. The man he put down with the others who were all tied together by Angela.

She waited for the inescapable tirade to begin. He looked ready to begin, but then the expected explosion erupted, shattering the building into debris. Angela found herself knocked to the ground, her father and his cape covering the both of them. Once they felt the last of the rubble hitting their backs, father and daughter stood on their feet again.

_And just like the universe, my new career starts off with a big bang._

"Lovely night we're having," Angela remarked.

Batman could only stare at her incredulously.

ooo

"What the hell were you thinking?"

Angela would never be able to understand how her father had been able to hold back until they were back in the Cave. Granted, it would have been difficult to ream her out while they were driving back since Angela had to take the same motorcycle she had arrived on, but she was still surprised that he hadn't started his tirade at the very spot.

Once they had returned home, Angela sat on a gurney, letting J'onn look her over for injuries. Meanwhile, her father continued to read her the riot act, unaware or just uncaring, that she wasn't giving him her full attention.

"You specifically disobeyed me and endangered yourself as well as Cassandra and I. You have no idea what you're doing and could have been killed tonight! Don't you realize that this isn't a game?"

Angela jumped off the cot, breaking free of J'onn's attentions.

"Of course I know it's not a game," she said as calmly as she could. "That's why I had to do it. I refuse to sit back and risk losing more of my family when there is a chance that I can help! You can't keep me a child forever. Why can't you trust me as much as any other hero you've ever worked with?"

Watching her father's face, she saw most of the anger dissolve as he said, "It isn't that I don't trust you."

"Then why are you so set against me doing this?"

He turned away, tension visible in his shoulders. Angela let J'onn settle her back on the gurney to finish the examination. There was a nasty bruise on her upper, front shoulder, her wrist was swollen and had acquired a second degree burn from the acid, and various other abrasions to her midsection. Once finished, J'onn gave her a subtle nod of approval.

As if the situation couldn't have gotten any more complicated, they heard steps on the stairs leading into the Cave. Luckily, it was only Diana. The Amazon princess swiftly took in her husband, step-daughter, teammate, and Cassandra in one glance.

"What has happened?"

"I had a night out on the town," Angela answered casually.

Diana had noted the white bandages and scrape marks on Angela's skin and knew that the teen girl was not speaking in a literal sense.

"I believe that I will check on the children," Diana said, fully aware that her presence and her opinion in this instance would not help matters for Angela. Several years earlier, Diana had confronted Bruce on his attitudes regarding Angela and the costumed life and had no choice but to respect his decision and rationale which he had told her. But she still wanted Angela to realize her full potential.

"I'll join you," Cassandra chimed in. While of the same opinion as Diana, she knew her mentor well and realized that he might not be as truthful with his daughter if there were others as well. J'onn made a similar excuse, leaving father and daughter alone in the Cave.

After long moments of silence, Angela spoke again. "I don't know what else to say to you that I haven't already said. Whatever you say is irrelevant anyway since I can do whatever I want when I'm eighteen. I want to do this, Dad. I _need_ to do this."

Her father turned back to face her, his face unreadable. Angela stood from the gurney again as she watched him walk to her, slow step by slow step. Once they were close, Angela was swept into her father's arms, held in a vice-like grip while his head came down to rest on hers. After a moment, Angela returned the embrace.

"I don't ever want to loose you," he said hoarsely. "I don't know what would happen if you were seriously hurt…I don't know what I would do. I taught you to fight so that no one could hurt you. I kept you off the streets so that you would never know the pain I've know for years. I never wanted to see you as a target for the deviants I face."

Angela raised her head to meet his eyes. "I don't want to see you hurt either. You're not recovering as quickly as you used to. You're loosing more energy throughout the day after a really bad night. I want to help so that you won't ever go out one night and not come back. Penny and Tommy have both of their parents, and I want to keep it that way."

"I swore on your mother's grave that I would keep you safe—"

"And you have. You've given me what I need to survive, and now I need to help others the way that you've helped me. Please don't make me do this on my own. I still need you."

The two of them just stood like that for another moment. When Diana ventured down to the Cave again, she found them like that still. She walked over to join them which finally broke the two of them apart.

"And the verdict is?" Diana asked, somehow sensing that some kind of resolution had been reached.

Angela's smile of triumph was all the answer needed.


	18. Epilogue

Now it's really the end. Well, not entirely. Depends on you. I really, really want to hit 80 reviews, so only six people need to drop me a line and I've added some incentive to leave a review.

The epilogue is painfully short compared to other chapters, but I've made up for it by supplying previews to your two options of what I write next. Basically, it boils down to prequel or sequel. The prequel will be a different style than LF, LD, in that it will cover important moments in Angela's childhood in each chapter. That one is completely plotted out, I would just need until about February or March in order to get started on it. The sequel is not nearly as thought out, but it's more like LF, LD because it follows a more typical timeline without the jumps that the prequel would have. I won't have anything ready until, well, let's just say closer to next summer because I'll have graduation stuff coming up. So you can see that there are advantages and disadvantages to both, and I leave the decision to you.

On a personal note, this has been a long trip for me and this is my first officially completed fanfic ever. All of you have been absolutely wonderful and generous with your praise and comments. I only ask that you keep it up for one last chapter which would be especially appreciated right now as many other things in my life have gone up in flame (not literally, don't worry that much). Once again, thanks for the support.

**Epilogue**

_Six months later_

The last day of school was an absolute relief for Angela. For ten years she had studied next to the other girls of privileged families who had no sense of reality. At the end of the day, she packed up what was left in her locker, closing the door with a satisfying slam.

She shouldered the bag and turned to her waiting sister.

"Can we go yet?" the younger girl complained, oblivious to the significant moment.

"Yeah. Let's go."

Outside in the warm spring weather, Angela watched the overly sentimental farewells of her peers before spotting the black Rolls Royce that was a fixture of her life.

Both Wayne girls walked over to the car and the elderly man waiting patiently beside it.

"Good afternoon, Miss Penny and Miss Angela. I trust the school year ended well?"

"Hi, Alfred," Penny said brightly, hopping into the back seat of the Rolls.

Alfred Pennyworth smiled at his young charge before turning back to Angela.

"Please let me take that, young miss," he said, reaching for the bag.

"Alfred, I can handle it, I promise."

Too dignified to mutter, "Like her father" Angela nonetheless knew that the butler was thinking it.

Angela placed her bag in the car before sliding in herself. She let Alfred close the door behind her with a smile. The butler then walked around and sat himself in the driver's seat. Angela knew how to drive and had access to any car in the manor's garage, but she always felt that Alfred liked picking the girls up from school. Bruce was typically still attending one last meeting or beginning his commute home and Diana had never learned to drive.

"And what shall we have in dinner tonight in celebration for the end of another successful academic year?" Alfred asked once they were on the road.

"I want to pick!" Penny piped up.

"Perhaps your sister would like first choice tonight since she has now completed her senior year?" Alfred hinted archly.

Angela began her answer as Penny scowled. "Could we have chicken piccata? With roasted asparagus?" Angela glanced sidelong at her sister. "And Bananas Foster for dessert."

Penny perked up at the name of her favorite dessert.

"Of course, young miss."

At home, Angela played with her younger brother to give Diana some time to herself. The now six-year-old was still full of energy and convinced Angela to play tag outside. After an hour of that, Angela took him inside to get washed up before helping Alfred in the kitchen. Dinner conversation mostly concerned Angela's upcoming graduation.

"Barbara, Dick, Helena and J'onn will be at the ceremony itself," Bruce said. "Tim, Cassandra, Clark, Lois, and other League members will be at the party later that day."

"Don't forget Lian, Chelsea and their families," Angela reminded.

"My mother is also coming in," Diana added.

"Grandma's coming?" Penny and Tommy asked together.

"Of course. She sees Angela as a grandchild just like you two."

Conversation then shifted to summer plans: Themyscira for Diana and Penny for the whole of summer break, London, Paris, and Prague for Bruce, Angela and Tommy but only for three weeks.

Angela read with both of her siblings while Diana prepared for an evening of monitor duty at the Watchtower. Once Tommy and Penny were tucked into bed, Angela joined her father in the Cave for their own preparations.

Angela had been joining her father and Cassandra and Tim on nightly patrols for the last five months. Bruce had insisted on more advanced training before starting the normal routine. In that month, Angela spent more time sparring and running through simulations. She also worked on her identity.

Once on the street, Angela limited her activities to only a few hours every night. She still had her schoolwork and applications to universities. Occasionally, she was asked to work a mission with Huntress or Black Canary when Oracle wanted someone as backup who wouldn't look dangerous.

Angela's father was already suited up and heading out when she made it downstairs. Angela headed to the suit room to gear up herself.

When choosing her costume, she had wanted something akin to her legacy but still herself. She had found the dark blue suit perfect with all the expected reinforcements. Her boots matched in color and had very little heel, reaching up to her knees. In lieu of a cape, which she had been opposed to from the beginning, Angela had decided on a long trench coat, a dark gray color, made from the same material as Batman's and Robin's capes and attached to her suit around her waist. Her black utility belt was identical to her father's and her favored escrima sticks had holsters down the sides of her thighs underneath the coat. She used a domino mask and braided her long blond hair away from her face.

She had quickly made inroads into the criminal community and her name was now well known.

Shadowcat.

Shadowcat stepped out of the gear room and joined Batman in the main portion of the Cave. She met his eyes and grinned.

"Let's hit it.'

_fin_

Prequel:

_"Bye, Dad, I'm off to school!"_

_Angela stood on her toes to kiss her father's cheek and whirled around to rush outside to Alfred who was waiting in the car. She was three feet away when her father spoke._

_"Stop. Turn. Explain."_

_Angela gave him a bright smile. "Explain what?"_

_"What is that you are wearing?"_

_"My school uniform."_

_"What are you wearing on your face?"_

_"It's make-up, Daddy. Do you like it?"_

_"Where did you get it?"_

_"Lian loaned me some. Daddy- I really need to go-"_

_"Why are you wearing make-up? You're too young for it."_

_"Dad, I'm fourteen-"_

_"Take it off right now."_

_"Oh, come on-"_

_"You're not leaving this house with that stuff on."_

_"You are completely overreacting."_

_"I don't think I am."_

_"I am fourteen years old, I'll be fifteen in three months. I'm probably the only girl my age who hasn't started wearing make-up yet, and for your information, I've been wearing make-up for the last two weeks and you haven't noticed so I really don't see why I should have to take it off when I didn't have to before when you didn't know"_

_There was a small giggle from behind the arguing pair. Diana and Penny were standing in the doorway, attempting to hide smiles. Diana was succeeding more than her daughter. The six-year old was giggling into her hand._

_"Barbara told me that teenage girls can make sentences last longer than is usual. I didn't think she was serious," Diana remarked with a smile._

_"I want a second opinion," Angela said, gathering her dignity._

_"Bruce, what is so wrong with Angela wearing make-up?" Diana asked carefully._

_"I don't want any one to get the wrong idea about what kind of girl she is. She's probably wearing make-up to look nice for some idiot boy."_

_"Dad, give me some credit," Angela answered with her hands propped up on her hips. "I want to look nice for myself, not for anyone else."_

_Bruce sighed in a subtle way that signaled near defeat. Angela did not completely win the argument until Penny spoke._

_"Why can't Angela look pretty?"_

_Bruce fought a smile for nearly a full minute, before giving in. _

_"Fine. Hurry, or you'll be late."_

Sequel:

_The first morning of her summer break, Angela woke at seven thirty to a small body bouncing on her bed._

_"Wake up! Wake up!"_

_Angela reached blindly and managed to grab hold of a little boy's arm, dragging him down next to her before throwing her covers over him._

_"Angela!" came the muffled protest._

_"Well, that's what happens to little boys who wake up their sisters by jumping on them," Angela responded._

_"But—pancakes!"_

_Angela smiled. The ten-year-old Tommy had probably already been down to the kitchen and peeked on the breakfast preparations. Alfred was no doubt creating a special breakfast to celebrate her return home._

_"Fine, I'm coming. Go wake up Penny, Dad, and Mom—nicely—and then go play with Shadow outside to stay out of Alfred's way. Got it, little bug?"_

_In response, Tommy scrambled out from underneath the covers and scampered out of her bedroom. Shaking her head slightly, Angela got up and walked over to her bathroom. Without looking in the mirror, she washed her face having taken a shower the night before when she had come in. Feeling completely awake, Angela moved to her closet and took stock in the full length mirror on the inside of the door._

_Bruce Wayne could cover most of his bruises with business suits. Angela would have attracted too much notice if she dressed in full length pants and shirts every time she had a nasty bruise. So, every morning required careful examination of her body to determine what clothing she could wear each day._

_That morning, she stood in her undergarments, spinning slowly to access the damages from the previous night's work. A foot sized bruise was forming on her abdomen from a kick she had been unable to block; not a problem to cover, but she would make sure to wear something a little loose around her midsection. There was another bruise on her back left shoulder which cut out halter tops by themselves. There was still a healing scar on her right thigh from a knife wound a week ago, so any skirt had to be knee-length. In the end, she settled on a white sundress with a pale green leaf pattern. The skirt was long enough and the waist was high enough to float away from her sensitive skin on her stomach. The gauzy sleeves hid the other main bruise. Make-up covered any other slight scrapes and leaving her hair down completed the look._

_Angela was pleased to see only Alfred in the kitchen, working diligently at the electric skillet as well as the cutting board._

_"Good morning, Ms. Angela. How did we sleep?"_

_"Wonderfully, Alfred. Is the munchkin outside?"_

_"Indeed. I was pleased that he decided not to—help."_

_Angela smiled. It seemed that she alone of the Wayne children had any skill with cooking. Penny was decent, but Tommy was an absolute disaster in the kitchen. He simply didn't have the attention span to work on anything other than making ice cream sundaes._

So those are your two options. Keep in mind that I will do both eventually, it's just a question of which I write first. Feel free to leave your preference with your review, or just vote, whatever. Please don't leave it at a tie or I'll pull a Dent and flip a coin.


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